By Stephen Smoot
The end of last month brought more good news in the form of higher hotel and motel tax receipts for the county, as well as a discussion of the recent Mon Forest Towns grant and proposal.
First, the Pendleton County Convention and Visitors Bureau board heard the report of the finance committee. Members received a spreadsheet marked by a number of budget items, which included the estimated budget for each item, as well as what was actually spent.
As of the time of the report, in both the first and second quarters, the report showed that in the vast majority of cases, the CVB had underspent relatively to what it had originally estimated each item would require. This occurred in some part because the board was in its first year and did not have a specific idea of what each item would cost, but estimated conservatively.
Annie Humes remarked that “first quarter income from hotel-motel taxes was phenomenal” and “significantly over what was brought in January through March last year.” The increase in that quarter was about 18 percent. In the absence of more precise statistics, local governments use hotel-motel tax receipts as a sign of health in the tourism economy.
Second quarter numbers also revealed that Pendleton County hotel-motel tax receipts jumped from 2023 in the period between April and June by just over 10 percent. Though “not as drastic,” April through June is generally a period of strong tourist spending, so the percentage increase is still remarkable.
Pendleton County tends to historically post its strongest numbers in the third quarter of the year, which will extend into the fall.
Melinda Brooks provided the report for the grants committee. She stated that most discussion centered around the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area grant awarded for planning purposes. “It seems like there was some momentum built” from the community meeting held in June at Elevated Grounds.
Brooks said that the group “can fulfill its obligations,” but that it “still has a lot of planning to do.” They will hold another AFNHA community meeting in October.
The marketing committee reported that Amber Nesselrodt had attended the June Treasure Mountain festival meeting and offered that the CVB serve as an in-kind sponsor. Humes asked, “Does the board feel okay with that?” Janice Lantz responded that “hopefully we can get recognition for participation” by TMF.
It was suggested that some of the unused marketing budget be applied for the TMF sponsorship.
Much of the rest of the meeting centered around discussion of the planning grant for Mon Forest Towns. The grant will support West Virginia University Land Use Law Clinic work to help to facilitate a comprehensive plan based on the Mon Forest Towns, but potentially embracing the entire county.
A comprehensive plan would also require the creation of a planning commission that would bring stakeholders together to determine community priorities, identify assets and challenges, and create plans for future development.
Officials have already briefed the Pendleton County Commission on the issue. Humes said of the endeavor that “everyone should feel welcome to the table.” Brooks noted that “it sounds like the comprehensive plan will focus on the entire county and not just Franklin” as a Mon Forest Town. Humes said that they would take “deep dives” into the Town of Franklin and other unincorporated areas.
It was emphasized that the Mon Forest Towns comprehensive plan project is “not CVB driven, but CVB would be an excellent participant” because Mon Forest Towns is “CVB adjacent,” as it was explained.
In the public comment period, Katie VanMeter, board member, passed along a request from Warner’s Drive-In, saying, “They’d like to be featured more on the web page.” Members discussed the request briefly, mostly trying to determine why it was already not more prominent on the site.
The board agreed to approve the request, with Brooks calling it “a 10-minute fix.”
