The Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau advisory board is continuing to operate with a shortage of members.
Though the bylaws for the board designate four seats for people in the hotel and motel industry, representatives are not stepping up since a disagreement took place over whether more convention business should be solicited by the CVB.
The last four hotel representatives on the board resigned during disagreements in 2010 and early 2011, and so far no other hotel or motel representatives have offered to take those seats.
Now the City Council is talking about what to do.
In addition to the four hotel posts, the board has two members whose terms expire June 1. They are Mark Williams and Lori Jones.
Council members at a meeting Monday made appointments to fill some of the open seats on city boards and commissions. The council appointed Tom Mourning, Chad Carroz and Chris Tucker to assume the two expiring terms and one hotel seat.
CVB Director Patrick Tuttle said that even with those appointments, the net gain will be only one board member. There are 11 seats on the board and seven are currently filled, and the lack of board members sometimes prevents the board from having a quorum to take votes on business.
The council decided to advertise the open seats. If necessary, there may be a future discussion about changing the board’s bylaws to allow more at-large members or other residents to fill what have been the hotel seats.
“We’re not changing the title of those four seats yet,” said Tuttle. “They still remain hotel seats.”
Though the council did mention the possibility of a future change of the board makeup, “We’re not going to change the bylaws (yet), but because we have a problem making a quorum, we will use at-large members to make a quorum,” Tuttle said.
As for the vacancies, Tuttle said, “It’s not a matter of us not asking the hotels. It’s a matter of them choosing not to be there.”
Members of the board are Paula Callihan, representing attractions; Mark Lynch and Mark Williams, at-large; Vance Lewis, media/advertising; Lori Jones, retail; Ginger Lamar, Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce; and Donnie Bennett, restaurant.
The last hotel representatives to serve were Chris Beyer and Sara Stevenson, who resigned in February 2011; and Denise DuBois and Randy Shippy, who resigned in March 2011.
Pete Hall, of the Southwest Missouri Lodging Association, said that he would have to talk to members of the association’s board to determine what response they have, if any. No comment was made to the Globe regarding the association’s boycott of the board.
The City Council agreed to advertise that more volunteers are needed to serve on the CVB board.
Other council business
In other city appointments, the council tabbed Fred Roesel to the Board of Adjustment; Becky Heffren, Health Board; Matt Page, Enhanced Enterprise Commission; Brad McIntyre, Joplin Redevelopment Commission; Zachary Tussinger and Greg Dammer, Parks and Recreation Board; Jim George, Police and Firemen’s Pension Board; Nancy Warren, Solid Waste Advisory Commission; and Chris Tucker, TIF Commission.
Reappointed were Mike Shade and Vicki Christensen to the City Tree Board; Nancy Morton, Design Review Commission; Kevin Welch, Joplin Sports Authority Board; and Robert Loudermilk, Police and Firemen’s Pension Board.
Additionally, Mayor Melodee Colbert-Kean made appointments for council liaisons to boards and commissions.
Former Mayor Mike Woolston will assume her place as liaison to the University of Missouri Extension Center.
Other appointments: Trisha Raney, Downtown Joplin Alliance; Jack Golden, Joplin Sports Authority; Bill Scearce, Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center; Gary Shaw, Harry S. Truman Council of Governments; Mike Seibert, Joplin Museum Board; Morris Glaze, Region M Solid Waste Advisory Board; and Benjamin Rosenberg, Joplin Redevelopment Corp.
Mayor’s posts
The mayor is an ex-officio member of the Police and Firemen’s Board and she also will serve on the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce board.
Local News
Joplin CVB board short on members
- Local News
-
-
Alcohol, speed suspected factors in fatal crash Saturday
The driver in a double-fatality accident Saturday in Joplin is suspected of having been intoxicated and speeding at almost twice the posted limit. He may also have been attempting a trick-driving maneuver, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
-
New Mexico man draws prison term in Joplin child-rape case
A 59-year-old man was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to sexual abuse of a developmentally disabled 8-year-old girl in Joplin. Robert L. Newton pleaded guilty in Jasper County Circuit Court to first-degree statutory rape, first-degree statutory sodomy and felony failure to appear in court in a plea agreement with the prosecutor’s office.
-
Carthage School Board OKs $45 million budget
A proposed budget that sets Carthage School District spending at $45.7 million for the fiscal year starting July 1 was approved by the Carthage School Board on Monday night. The budget represents an increase of almost 3.5 percent over spending in the current year’s budget. It also includes additional teaching positions and increases in staff pay, said Superintendent Blaine Henningson.
-
Mike Pound: It’s OK to leave dad alone on Father’s Day
My wife was worried that I would mind being alone for a couple of hours on Sunday.
Sunday was Father’s Day, and my wife had the crazy notion that I wanted to be surrounded by kith and kin all day. -
Joplin City Council to move forward on $130 million recovery proposal; curbside recycling election resurrected
Residents kept the house packed to the end of a 2 1/2-hour meeting of the Joplin City Council on Monday night to encourage the panel to resurrect some kind of curbside recycling proposal and to hear the details or support a $130 million recovery plan.
-
Board chairwoman: Bruce Speck out as MSSU president
Bruce Speck is “no longer president” of Missouri Southern State University, the Board of Governors disclosed Monday. The announcement was made late Monday afternoon following a unanimous vote taken during a closed board meeting Friday.
-
Joplin to proceed with $130 million recovery plan, recycling election
The Joplin City Council on Monday night agreed to go forward with formal consideration of a $130 million recovery plan and revived a bill to hold an April vote of the people on the question of whether to institute curbside recycling.
-
Former disaster relief worker, others indicted for fraud following Joplin tornado
A federal grand jury has indicted a former employee of the Economic Security Corp. in Joplin, her boyfriend and a third alleged conspirator in connection with the defrauding of the government via tornado relief funds. A sealed, three-count indictment was returned June 11 in U.S. District Court in Springfield against Herlana L. Latham, 31, and Christopher L. Smith, 36, both of Memphis, Tenn., and John L. Williams, 30, of Cairo, Ill. T
-
Back on the books: Reassessment numbers reflect rebuilding after 2011 tornado
Owners of nearly 8,000 properties in Jasper County have been notified that the value of real property they own has increased, and rebuilding from the Joplin tornado represents a significant share of that number. Officials in the county assessor’s office recently mailed out notices of higher property values, raised as a result of countywide reassessment.
-
Crop-duster takes to skies again after walking away from crash
RIVERTON, Kan. — Two minutes after John “Tim” Kellogg flew over his rural Cherokee County home and waved at his wife on their porch, the oil pressure in his crop-dusting plane dropped and the engine began smoking. “I knew I was going to be on the ground in 15 to 20 seconds, and I knew it was going to be a hard landing,” he said. A former mechanic on F-16s, F-15s and F-4s for the U.S. Air Force, Kellogg, 48, had to make a split-second decision.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Alcohol, speed suspected factors in fatal crash Saturday
