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Council approves LTAC grant recommendations and directs edits to visitor bureau contract
Summary
After reviewing a record 53 LTAC applications, the council voted to accept the lodging-tax advisory committee's recommendations to award roughly $2.43 million to core entities and special projects; members also discussed visitor bureau scope and a contested contract-extension request that the committee did not support.
The San Juan County Council on May 5 accepted the lodging-tax advisory committee's (LTAC) recommendation to distribute $2,432,509 to core tourism entities and special projects and authorized the county manager to execute grant agreements.
Aiden, the staff lead on LTAC matters, told the council the committee reviewed a record 53 applications and recommended core funding increases for chambers, theaters and parks. "We spent every last cent besides 66 cents," Aiden said, summarizing the committee's allocation.
Councilmember Fuller flagged one extension request (award 24059) for additional review because the applicant had not yet submitted reimbursements for prior awards and had applied for new funding. The LTAC committee recommended denying the six-month extension; council members asked staff to request a progress report and reimbursement documentation before reconsideration.
The council voted to accept the LTAC recommendations and authorize execution of agreements. The committee's recommendation also included specific asks for some awardees to provide follow-up reporting to LTAC.
Visitor bureau contract: Council discussed a one-year visitor bureau contract at a recommended funding level of $559,749. Members asked staff to remove the phrase "when completed" from a scope-of-services line that referenced a tourism master plan, telling staff that contracting language should not reference future or incomplete documents. Council directed staff to format the proposed edits and return the contract for execution.
Why it matters: LTAC-funded projects support tourism-related nonprofits and facilities countywide; council signaled caution about contract terms that reference incomplete planning documents and asked for clear reporting from grant recipients.
Follow up: Staff will solicit documentation from the extension-request applicant and return any reconsideration to council. The manager's office will format the visitor-bureau contract edits and prepare documents for execution.
