The Fergus Falls Daily Journal

By Staff Reports

• Latest Stories

  • Thursday’s scores: Battle Lake boys win again (click for more)
  • Field Supervisor
  • UND will use Fighting Sioux for time being
  • New owner to take over at FF Sears store
  • MN freed of No Child Left Behind

Hotels asked to help pay for study of CVB

Published 12:00am Thursday, September 5, 2002

&uot;Since hotel owners brought up the problem to the city, they should help pay the cost (for outside resources),&uot; said Danny Kvenvolden, a member of the Fergus Falls City Council. On Monday night, the Council approved the Finance and Personnel Committee’s recommendation to study the CVB. The city will pay part of the yet unknown cost, but not from the CVB budget. Hotel owners will be asked to pay the rest. Mark Sievert, city administrator said he doesn’t see an urgency in the matter, so there is not yet a set time line. He is meeting with a consultant on Thursday to discuss the issue. Owner of the AmericInn, Nicholas Klaers, wasn’t happy with the idea. &uot;That’s what the (lodging) tax is for,&uot; he said. &uot;I couldn’t think of a better use for those funds.&uot; A majority of motel owners have requested the CVB position be dissolved to free up funding for marketing. The hotel owners said the CVB spent about $25,000 on promotional expenses for 2001, but Stringer said the number is closer to $79,000. She contends that her salary, among other expenditures not included by the hotel owners, should be considered part of the promotional expense. &uot;I feel that marketing isn’t just the ads that you put in magazines, but trade shows, telephone calls, familiarization tours, promotions, traveling to meetings and networking,&uot; she said. &uot;I consider all of that marketing. Therefore, the salary of the position is marketing.&uot; Stringer develops the CVB budget that is then examined by the CVB Board. The board includes Daryl Ecker, Chamber of Commerce representative; Danny Kvenvolden, Council Member; two hotel managers; Brian Fuder, restaurant representative; Bob Bigwood Sr., at large; Rebecca Petersen, at large, but representing attractions; and Stephanie Hoff, ex-officio member from the Chamber of Commerce. &uot;The CVB board goes over the market plan each year with me with a fine tooth comb to determine what we want to market,&uot; she said. The Board and the City have approved the budget for the last 12 years. By dissolving the executive director position and using another agency to perform the office duties, Klaers said they would save $28,000, which could be used to promote the Bigwood Event Center. He said the rest of the money would go to the same things Stringer already does. &uot;There is nothing that (Stringer’s) doing that would not be accomplished,&uot; he said. Since the CVB office opened in 1990, Stringer has helped to bring in the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center, Otter Trail Scenic Byway, Pine to Prairie Birding Trail and the Bigwood Event Center, all considered attractions for Fergus Falls. Klaers said the lodging tax (3 percent) should be specifically spent for the lodging people that turn in the tax and not things like the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center and the Otter Trail Scenic Byway, which he said have resulted few to no room stays at Fergus hotels. &uot;All of those activities should not be funded by the lodging tax,&uot; he said.