Arguments erupt during Local Government meeting when determining what committee will control hotel/motel tax revenues

RACHEL TOWNSEND

Managing Editor

During the Local Government meeting, the discussion devolved during a conversation regarding the approval of July 24, 2024, minutes, after Commissioner Hunter Jackson requested the minutes be amended to reflect that an additional committee was not formed to manage potential future tourism dollars from the Tourist Development Tourism Enhancement Grant ($100,000). [https://www.stategazette.com/story/3048040.html]

Members of the Local Government Committee include Chairman Brandon Dodds, James T. "Bubba" Cobb, Hunter Jackson, Terry McCreigh, Larry Shawver, Mark Korn, Debra Roberson, and Steve Sartin.

Others present included Finance Director Amy Perkins, County Clerk Diane Moore, Accounts Manager Cari Jones, Trustee Nancy Broadstone, County Attorney Mike Gauldin, Dyer County Administrative Assistant Beverly Ellington, and commissioners Doug Singleteary, John Uitendaal, Jimmy Hester, and Debbie Bradshaw-Hart.

Potential revenues to be collected from the 4% hotel/motel tax levy are estimated at $340K, according to Quick.

“The only thing I see missing [from the minutes] is when we were having discussion about the motion that we voted on letting the parks and rec oversee the fund since it was strictly for tourism and the money would be allocated into a restricted account and no other committee would be formed,” said Jackson. “That’s the only thing I see missing.”

“That’s wrong,” interrupted Quick.

Jackson said he and three other commissioners were able to verify the conversation.

The resolution for the hotel/motel levy presented before the committee states that Parks and Recreation would have authority over tourism projects, however, spending of tourism funds would still require final approval by the CLB.

Quick accused Jackson of asking the county attorney, Mike Gauldin, to rewrite the resolution to state tourism dollars would be under the jurisdiction of the Parks and Recreation Meeting.

Jackson said he wanted the resolution to be an accurate representation of the meeting minutes.

“Why are you obsessing over controlling this money when we have put people in place for months?” questioned Quick of Jackson. “You really knew nothing about this.”

“I’ve known about this for two years,” replied Jackson. “I brought this up two years ago.”

“Well, you haven’t participated in it,” argued Quick. “Tell me your participation in this.”

“I forgot…you [Quick] did it all!” argued Jackson, “…Look, I’m saying the minutes weren’t recorded right.”

“Well, we need expert people working on this,” said Quick. “We need people who were involved in it two years ago.”

“We need a plan of action,” said Jackson.

Quick said there was a plan of action in place, however, he questioned whether the public meeting was the proper place to discuss that plan.

At the request of McCreight, Quick said that “key players” involved in the project include himself, Chamber President Slater Barr, Downtown Director Brianna Roser, and West Tennessee Tourism board member Anna Sartin.

“We appointed Brianna and Anna to the [West Tennessee Tourism] Board last year… I wanted a balanced, fair committee that wasn’t overloaded with people from the Budget Committee, the Fair Board, and other identities…and this committee [Local Government] as well, so it would be balanced and fair for the community with the education we put in place.”

It should be noted that Roser was not appointed to the West Tennessee Tourism by Quick, but has been a member of the board for numerous years.

Dodds reminded Quick that the commission is elected by the constituents. Should the public be dissatisfied with their actions, they can be voted out in the next election.

Quick says the state board meetings recommend “putting people on them from the outside.”

“There have been members [of the commission] who have said they don’t care about those ballfields and the Dixie Youth organization, and they don’t want to spend any money on them.”

Dodds responded to the mayor stating, “The Parks and Rec Committee does care about the ballfields.”

“Then why is it in the shape it’s in today?” asked Quick.

“Maybe it’s because of that organization,” replied Jackson.

It has been noted during various meetings of the Budget Committee that Dixie Youth is bound by lease to maintain the fields. Quick noted during the May 13 Budget Committee meeting that Dixie Youth was short of volunteers and funding and unable to maintain the fields without assistance [https://www.stategazette.com/story/3040398.html].

Quick assigned responsibility to the Dyer County Commission, stating the ballfields, being county-owned property, should be repaired and maintained by the county. [https://www.stategazette.com/story/3039327.html].

A question asked by several commissioners is who would perform and oversee the maintenance of the fields when considering Dyer County lacks a recreational division similar to that of the City of Dyersburg.

The addition of more county property maintenance would likely place an additional strain on the budget for citizens who recently were imposed with a $30 wheel tax increase to help offset a property tax increase.

Jackson noted that during the Recreation Committee meeting with the Director of Tourism for Obion County, Caroline Partin, they were informed that the tourism grant could not be used for residential funds [https://www.stategazette.com/story/3049745.html].

“She was really the least professional in that room, in that category,” responded Quick. “We had two people sitting to the right that never spoke up because they didn’t want to battle you guys [commission] in that meeting, and they were concerned about their jobs.”

Others in attendance at the meeting included Brianna Roser and Anna Anderson. Neither Anderson nor Roser are employed with the county.

“They have a lot more education than that young lady did, although I spent a lot of time with her as well and she will do a good job. She’s doing a good job, but she’s not as educating as some of them in that room were.”

Quick went on to say that Bradshaw-Hart notified him over the phone that she wanted to place a different committee in charge of tourism dollars. This claim was denied by Bradshaw-Hart, who publicly denied the call with Quick even occurred.

“I never asked you anything about a committee,” Bradshaw-Hart said.

(Correspondence between committee members regarding decisions that influence votes, policies, or local government business is required by law to be discussed during public meetings. Any communication between government committee members over the phone would be considered a violation of the State of Tennessee’s Sunshine Law.)

A motion was made by Cobb to amend the minutes of the meetings. The motion was seconded by Jackson.

Another issue brought up among the committee concerned the language of the hotel/motel tax resolution. The resolution states funds will be placed in a restricted account under the jurisdiction of the Parks and Recreation Committee “until further notice.”

A motion was made to strike language from the resolution stating, “until further notice”.

Quick argued the language should not be changed and deferred to County Attorney Mike Gauldin.

“Even if you don’t strike it, it’s true,” said Gauldin. “11 commissioners can change whatever they want…the idea was after I saw the minutes, I saw there may not be a permanent solution…for accounting purposes, I used the word “restricted”.

Quick said he feels that key players in the hotel/motel tax and event center should be considered. He said key players are those who have been involved in the project for over a year.

When asked by Shawver who the key players were, Quick mentioned Roser, Barr, and Anderson.

“I want to balance it for the fair board because Eric Maupin has worked his tail off for the Ag Expo,” said Quick. “I think we could be close to getting that done but it’s a lot more than I can bring up at this table— right here, right now. I think these key players should be added to a committee to balance it out.”

A motion was made by Shawver to strike the language “until further notice” from the resolution. Without a second, the motion failed to pass.

A Cobb made a motion to approve the resolution without changes. The motion was seconded by Sartin, with all in favor except Dodds.