Council agrees to discuss hotel-occupancy tax uses, visitor bureau and rules for citizen videos at May budget workshop

City council members asked staff to include a review of hotel-occupancy tax spending, an arts-grant process and rules for citizen-submitted videos on the agenda for the first May budget work session.

Councilmember Matt Blake requested a work session item to "get some information laid out and make some decisions around videos in citizen presentations," citing the need for IT requirements, submission timing and legal consistency. "If we decide not to play somebody's video, are we then on the hook legally for not playing their video, but playing somebody else's?" Blake asked.

Councilmembers and staff discussed scope and process. Several members suggested a formal grant application and evaluation process for HOT-funded arts grants, including a standard application form, background checks and conflict-of-interest safeguards. "Look at a process of if there's a 501(c)(3) or any group that wants to propose and ask for money, a process of how that works," one councilmember said.

Council agreed there should be clarity about permissible HOT uses and existing HOT commitments; City Manager Paulette Hartman said staff will present what the council has already committed and then discuss possible new programs during the May budget workshop. Council also raised the idea of a visitors bureau or a standing committee to coordinate events funded with HOT dollars and to shepherd larger efforts such as a Main Street arts festival.

The item was placed for discussion during the council’s preliminary budget work session; no ordinance or funding decision was made at the March 3 meeting.