CVB to remain where it is for now following county decision

Jan. 26—The Geary County Conventions and Visitors Bureau will remain where it is for the time being after the county commission voted in favor of its office remaining at 222 W. Sixth Street.

The commission — then made up of Commissioners Brad Scholz, Charles Stimatze, and Keith Ascher — had decided in late December to allow the CVB to move its office from its current location to a recently vacated space in the Pennell Building. Breaking its lease with John Montgomery, from whom the CVB is currently renting, would have cost the CVB a total of $18,000 — the rest of the year's rent. The CVB would, according to this past decision, stay rent-free in the Pennell Building, which Ascher said he believed would make up for the cost of the move.

Because of safety concerns and because of the cost, newly-elected Commissioners Alex Tyson and Trish Giordano declined to allow the CVB to make this move.

"I voted because I felt like that wasn't a good place for them because of the atmosphere," Giordano said. "I know that Alex voted because he was worried about the upstairs being too crowded with people."

Tyson expressed concern with possible COVID-19 safety issues and Giordano said she was worried about other safety issues. The Pennell Building houses the county attorney's office and consequently has probationers in and out of the building all day. She said there had been more than 300 arrests conducted at that building over the past several years, making it a potentially risky and image-compromising place for the CVB's office. This poses a potential safety risk, she said, and could be bad for the CVB's image. The CVB is focused on tourism in Geary County.

Giordano said she didn't agree with the CVB moving rent free into the Pennell Building, because other entities housed there pay rent and because the rent paid by tenants goes to the upkeep of the building itself.

"That building still needs to be maintains and things break and where is that money going to come from?" she said. "That's what rent does, that's what rent takes care of."

Giordano, who serves as the county commission's chair, said she felt the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce and its Economic Development Commission and the CVB should all be located in the same place, because they all have similar goals despite the CVB being a completely separate entity from the other two.

"I think the Chamber and the EDC and the CVB should all be in the same area so when people come to look at our community or enquire about our community, all those entities are right there," she said.

Giordano said her ultimate goal was to have all of these entities "work together for the betterment of our community."

Money is tight right now for the CVB, Giordano said, citing statements made by CVB Director Michele Stimatze about the impact of COVID-19 on transient guest tax in the county.

"I want to examine needs versus wants," Giordano said. "Do we need the CVB down there right now? No, not at this time. I would love for it to go down (to Washington Street), but I feel this is year a rebuilding year ... Why move when we can just stay where we are and regroup and make 2021 a rebuilding year?"

The CVB has claimed its current location has generated a "toxic environment" for it, but has not specified what exactly about the location is toxic, she said.

"Nobody's ever said what was toxic," Giordano said. "That would take care of the issue if somebody told me — or tried to, anyway."

Tyson said he would be happy to see the CVB move to Washington Street — where it used to be located before moving to its current spot — in eventual time, because of an ongoing project to revitalize the downtown area.

But he said he felt now was not the time for it because of COVID-19.

Michele Stimatze, CVB advisory committee Chair Florence Whitebread and several members of the CVB advisory committee attended a meeting of the county commission on Tuesday of last week to make their displeasure known.

Whitebread suggested moving the county attorney's office out of the Pennell Building completely, due to the risks associated with it, because the building is located in Junction City's downtown where pedestrians and shoppers routinely visit.

"Since it's a downtown shopping area and we want to highlight and revitalize downtown, maybe that's not the place for them at all because that is a very open intersection where a lot of people would shop and the stores across the street and the type of clients you're dealing with I agree are not the best in the world," she said. "Maybe that whole group should be moved out of that building into another facility."

Whitebread added that the CVB might have another option for a building — such as acquiring one of its own — though Giordano maintained that she did not want them to spend the money to extricate themselves from their lease.

She also asked that the CVB committee be notified by the county the next time the county wanted to discuss such a matter so more of them could attend if they wished. Whitebread said CVB officials had found out about the planned discussion after reading the county agenda put out the Friday before the meeting.

Michele Stimatze said she hoped to restore a position to her staff that had remained unfilled and more space would help with that.

CVB committee member Adam Wilkie said he would be willing to reach across the aisle to other entities to help build up the community.

He commented that there had been bad blood between the CVB and some of its fellow tenants, referencing the toxic environment the CVB believes its current environment has fostered.

The CVB shares its building with multiple entities, including the Chamber of Commerce under which the EDC and the Military Affairs Council are housed and the Junction City Union.

During the discussion, Wilkie and CVB committee member Janie Murk questioned the commission's interest in hiring a financial coordinator, asking why the commission was willing to allow money to be spent on a financial coordinator and not a move for the CVB.

"Sometimes people's sanity is worth a lot more than any amount of money," Murk said. "I'll just say that. And if you do hire a financial person, if it's like a — whatever you said — manager, please make sure they're better than our city manager, because he's as worthless as tits on a boar."

City Manager Allen Dinkel was not present to respond to this remark and there were no city representatives present toward whom this remark might have been directed.

When contacted for comment after the meeting, Dinkel said he did not know Murk well.

"I have no idea how my name came up," he said. "I hardly know the lady. I know she was upset with some city issues last summer. She complained about losing a contract for people to stay there and want the city to do more in cleaning up blights and nuisances. I have had explain to her that we are doing work but I have limited by funding, and of course she didn't want to hear that. She wanted us to start tearing down buildings without going through the legal process."

The remark went unacknowledged by those present at the meeting.

Giordano said one of the items she ran for election on was hiring a financial coordinator for the county and said she felt the position was a need, not a want, for the county.

"That's something I want to look into and I'm going to be broaching the subject soon," Giordano said. "A financial coordinator doesn't take over other people's jobs. They're there to help the commissioners do their job and be fiscally responsible with taxpayer money. I would also like to see that financial coordinator do a capital improvement plan and a capital equipment plan for the county so we know where we stand and what we need to look forward to in the future."