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Carter County won't auto-renew tourism contract; commissioners offer one-year alternative after public outcry
Summary
After hours of public comment and commissioner debate, the county voted not to extend the Chamber-run three-year tourism contract automatically and directed staff to offer a one-year amended agreement requiring quarterly reporting and clearer performance benchmarks.
Carter County commissioners voted on Jan. 7 to stop the automatic three-year renewal of the county's tourism contract with the Elizabethton/Carter County Chamber of Commerce and instead instructed staff to draft a one-year amended agreement that would require quarterly reporting to the commission.
The move followed more than two hours of public comment from business owners, chamber leaders and residents who said canceling the contract without an immediate replacement would interrupt advertising, shutter the visitor center and take months to recover. "If we aren't funded beyond March, we would have to close our visitor center, shut down the tourcartercounty.com website, and stop distributing our brochures," Luke Freeman, director of tourism at the Chamber, told commissioners. "It will throw a wrench in…
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