7/2/2009 12:47:00 PM Free Press Creates HOT Fund Story Archive New Readers Can Get Background Other Media Didn't Provide
The Walker Free Press has posted an archive of most of its stories, editorials and columns on the ongoing study by the city of the Huntsville-Walker County Chamber of Commerce's management of close to $350,000 it receives annually from the Hotel Occupancy Tax to manage tourism operations for the city.
Last week the city, in a surprise move, took over the operations of the Sam Houston Statue Visitor Center and Gift Shop, transferring employees to independent contractor status with the city, and demanded the chamber return any unspent monies from current allocations.
The action was initiated by City Attorney Leonard V. Schneider, acting on an authorization given him previously by the City Council, after consultation with Finance Director Winston Duke and an independent forensic/compliance auditor hired by the city.
In the wake of that action several comments have been directed to the Free Press by people wondering how this all came about, and questioning if it was a political action by the City Council.
The local media by and large have not covered this story since it went public late last summer. The Free Press had published 38 stories, columns and editorials and 30 of them are in the archive, which tops our menu list on the left-hand side of this page.
Given people who have relied on other media would not have been given any background against which to measure the city's action, we have compiled the archive. It begins with the November meeting of the Hotel Occupancy Tax Board appointed by Mayor J. Turner to not only look into the chamber's management of the funds but also to begin to create criteria for future decisions on how the tax money should be spent.
The state law says it must be used to jointly promote tourism and promote the hotel industry, which means uses must "put heads in beds."
The stories begin with the November meeting because the October meeting was an organizational one. The Free Press did not begin publication until Oct. 1. There were events that pre-dated that.
The most significant question that we have heard lately concerns "who started this?" It the chamber has managed the funds since 1994, then why all of a sudden were there concerns about how the funds were being used?
Following the May 2008 there was a sea change on the City Council. While newly-elected members Wayne Barrett, Charles Forbus, Dr. Tom Cole and Lanny Ray are not in lockstep agreement on a variety of issues, they have shared one concern - fiscal management, mostly from a conservative bent. That did not put them out of step with incumbents Melissa Mahaffey, Dalene Zender, Mac Woodward, Mayor J. Turner, then-councilman Clarence Griffin. While those people were not in lockstep either, it's safe to say all of them did have a serious interest in fiscal management of the city.
It was that council that hired current City Manager Bill Baine, who came on board in August. One of the first things the new majority encouraged, and Baine agreed, was asking city department heads what their concerns and priorities were. A concern that came out of the Finance Department involved the HOT funds. Finance Director Winston Duke did not feel the city had adequately performed its oversight responsibilities under the contract in that it had not researched and challenged quarterly and annual reports from the chamber. Finance staff did not take any positions on how the contract was being managed, but rather said it should be studied.
Out of that came Turner's appointment of the Hotel Occupancy Tax Board. And, out of that began the chain of events that led to the recent suspension of the contract. That chain of events is detailed in the 30 articles, editorials and columns in the archive that tops our left hand menu. - Rich Heiland, Editor/Publisher
