Public hearing on decertifying Blair County tourism agency draws objections from local tourism partners

Blair County Solicitor Chris Furman opened a public hearing April 24 to receive comments on a proposed resolution to decertify the county's current tourism and promotion agency (TPA); the hearing did not include a vote and commissioners will consider the record at a later public meeting.

The hearing drew multiple objections from tourism stakeholders who said decertification would remove an established marketing organization ahead of the summer visitor season and that county leaders had not presented a clear alternative plan. "In the words of attorney Farah, I am an objector of this decertification," Mark Ickes, executive director of Explore Altoona, told the hearing. Ickes said Explore Altoona's marketing work contributed to what he described as a nearly 40% increase in visitor spending over the past decade and that "visitor spending equates to $371,000,000 annually."

The statement of purpose for the hearing, read by Furman, emphasized procedure and timing. "We are not voting today. This is not a voting meeting. This is a public hearing," Furman said at the start of the session, noting the purpose was to create a record for the commissioners' future deliberation. Furman later clarified that a separate hearing under the Municipality Authorities Act had addressed a proposed trails authority and that the trails authority and the TPA decertification are "not connected." "The trail authority is not going to be TPA. It is not going to be a DMO," he said.

Speakers representing tourism businesses, attractions and cultural institutions urged the commissioners to preserve Explore Altoona or at least explain a clear transition plan. "What is the plan moving forward?" asked Jody Cessna, president of the Explore Altoona board of directors. Hotel operator Jeffrey Cipriani, who identified his property as the market's largest-revenue hotel, said, "Explore Altoona wasn't against trails... Explore Altoona was the most transparent organization I've ever been involved with." Danielle Fitch, a resident of Holidaysburg, said she did "not see Explore Altoona and the creation of trails as mutually exclusive." Dustin Smith, executive director of the Baker Mansion History Museum and the Blair County Historical Society, called Explore Altoona's work "exemplary" and said partners had been excluded from planning discussions. Donna Himes, marketing director for Blue Veil Seasons Resort, said she supports trails but questioned whether the proposed successor organization would match Explore Altoona's marketing reach and municipal-level promotion.

County staff entered multiple exhibits into the hearing record, including affidavits of publication showing the notice ran in the Blair County legal bulletin and the Altoona Mirror on March 27, 2025, the proposed decertification resolution, and a set of municipal resolutions from boroughs and townships in the county. Furman asked that those documents be admitted as exhibits 1 through 4; later, two speakers'written comments were added as exhibits 5 and 6. Commissioners moved to admit the exhibits and then moved to close the record; those procedural motions were approved on voice vote during the hearing. Furman also said several municipalities had passed resolutions supporting the decertification and that Duncansville had voted unanimously, but he noted the county did not yet have a copy of that resolution to include in the packet.

Several speakers questioned the proposed shift in the use of hotel-occupancy-tax revenues. Ickes argued that state law governing hotel tax intends those funds to be used to drive visitors ("put heads in beds") rather than to construct visitor infrastructure, and he said other funding sources exist for trail building. Speakers repeatedly urged the commissioners to provide a clear plan, funding details and an outreach process to affected tourism partners before taking final action.

No formal decision was made at the hearing. Furman closed the hearing after admitting exhibits and noting the record would be forwarded to the commissioners for consideration. The record was closed and the meeting adjourned; any later vote on the proposed resolution will occur at a future public meeting of the Blair County Board of Commissioners.