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Brookings council reviews TAC 2.0 ordinance; public urges higher tourism-promotion share of lodging tax
Summary
Council reviewed ordinance 26-818 to re-establish the Tourism Advisory Committee (TAC 2.0) and to update transient lodging tax language; members suggested technical edits and public commenters urged increasing the share of lodging tax spent on tourism promotion.
The Brookings City Council reviewed ordinance 26-818, a proposal to reconstitute the Tourism Advisory Committee (often called TAC 2.0), and to update the city's transient lodging tax (TLT) language at its March 5 meeting. Staff presented the ordinance and described the committee's history and the proposed revisions to Chapter 3.10 of the municipal code.
A staff member told the council the TAC was established in 2012, disbanded in 2020 and that staff had prepared drafts and workshops after council direction. The staff presentation noted the ordinance also updates older TLT language in Chapter 3.10 to modernize terminology and correct references that predate current practice.
Two residents spoke during the public-comment period about tourism funding and the committee's return. Michael Frederick of 16883 Yellow Brick Road welcomed the TAC's return but asked how TLT and other grant funds are tracked, noting a reported $2,000 award to the Wild Rivers Filmfest and that in prior years similar awards had been $3,000. "It just made me curious... when all the money has been spent or if it hasn't been spent is it carried over," Frederick said, urging clearer accounting to preserve purchasing power.
Alex Carr Frederick, also of 16883 Yellow Brick Road, urged the council to increase the portion of TLT devoted to tourism promotion. He noted the state recently lowered a mandatory minimum to a 60/40 split (promotion/operations) and observed that Brookings remains at 25 percent for promotion. "It would show that you're putting your TAC money where your mouth is if you did up that just a little bit from 25%," he said.
Councilors thanked staff for the work and proposed only technical edits to the draft ordinance. Councilor Christy pointed out capitalization inconsistencies ("City" on pages 11 and 14) and a conflicting phrasing on page 12 about consecutive days; she suggested standardizing the language to "30 or fewer consecutive days" or "up to 30 days" to avoid excluding the 30th day. She said she would provide marked-up notes to staff.
A councilor moved to read ordinance 26-818 by title only; the motion was seconded and called. Following the title reading the council briefly discussed whether a formal adoption motion was required after the title reading and then moved on to non-action items. The transcript does not record a completed adoption vote for ordinance 26-818 during the meeting.
Earlier the council approved the consent calendar by voice vote; the motion carried.
The council requested staff incorporate the technical edits and return with a revised ordinance for further action. No formal adoption of ordinance 26-818 is recorded in the transcript of this meeting.
