Hearing scheduled Aug. 1 at 6:30 pm
Polk County is on its way to establishing a new economic and tourism development commission that is a merger of the economic development and travel and tourism departments.
The Polk County Board of Commissioners met Monday, July 11 and set a public hearing to approve an ordinance establishing the commission. The public hearing will be held on Aug. 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the Womack building in Columbus.
The county recently appointed an implementation committee to draft the ordinance establishing the committee, policies and procedures for the commission and a job description for an economic development director.
Commissioners decided during budget preparations this year to merge the economic development and tourism departments. Previously, the county partially funded a travel and tourism department that was run with a full-time director of tourism.
Polk County went one year without an economic development director, during which time the economic development department was run by a volunteer board.
The new commission will be a merger of economic development and tourism duties. Commissioners plan to hire a new economic development director, whose position will be a contracted service budgeted at $50,000. The travel and tourism portion of the department will be staffed by a part-time employee.
The budget includes only approximately $64,000 expected to be collected in occupancy tax funding.
The new economic and tourism development commission is proposed to consist of 11 members and one alternate. The commission is proposed to meet once per month with members having staggered terms. Members will serve one-year terms, with no member allowed to serve more than two consecutive terms.
The policies and procedures draft for the commission says that different committees will be established, including a governance committee (executive/management functions), an economic development committee, a tourism and marketing committee and a technology/websites committee.
Ambrose Mills, chair of the county’s economic development committee, met with commissioners Monday and thanked the implementation team for the hard work they completed.
Commissioners plan to adopt the new ordinance and policies and procedures after receiving public comment next month. The county has not yet hired an economic development director.