HANCOCK COUNTY — The county commissioners on Thursday voted to replace four of the five members it had appointed to the county tourism commission.
Earl Smith, Brandi Zimmer, Shirley Matlock and Rosalie Richardson were removed from their volunteer positions on the Hancock County Tourism Commission as their terms expired. In their stead, the county commissioners appointed Carolyn Flynn, Travis McMichael, Will Ronan and Bob Mattsey for two-year terms.
The commissioners appoint five of the seven members of the tourism commission. George Langston, who was appointed last year, still has another year to go on his term. Members Kelly McClarnon and Amanda Everidge were appointed by Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell.
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Brad Armstrong, vice president of the commissioners, said it is unusual for four terms to end at the same time, but the commissioners decided to use the opportunity to shake things up.
“Some of the board members we replaced were upset, not happy in their roles, and had contacted me earlier in the year,” Armstrong said. “We had appointed George Langston, and his appointment created a divide there, which created some problems in the work environment. We decided to try and get a little more unity and focus in the direction of compliance.”
Before he was appointed to the commission in 2017, Langston often appeared before the tourism commission and the county commissioners with concerns about how the seven-member board was operating.
In June, treasurer Kelly McClarnon said the commission would be changing how it operates, because it had not been following proper procedures as set by state law. They have to appropriate funds before disbursing them in grants to groups promoting tourism in Hancock County, he said. The change to the policy came after McClarnon, Richardson and Langston formed a finance committee at the beginning of 2018.
At least one member not reappointed by the commissioners had asked to leave the board.
Richardson had wanted to retire from her post on the commission for health reasons, said county tourism director Brigette Cook Jones. Brandi Zimmer, who had worked as a manager for the Hampton Inn, no longer works there, and the commission wanted another person working in the hotel industry on the board, Jones said.
McMichael is the general manager at Greenfield’s Holiday Inn. Ronan is a manager at the Greenfield Waffle House, but the other two appointees do not serve in the tourism industry, Jones said.
Armstrong said he wanted to thank all the members who have served on the tourism commission, especially Richardson, who had served since the commission’s inception. Richardson also formerly was a longtime member of the county council.
“I know it was a lot of work, pretty thankless, and we really appreciate their service to the community,” he said.
Jones said with the first tourism commission meeting of the year coming on Tuesday, and officer elections taking place then, she is concerned it will be a grueling period of adjustment for the majority of members, who will not have received training before some of them are elected as officers.
“There’s a learning curve as to what tourism constitutes, what this office does, how it should be done and the relationship between the board and the office,” Jones said. “With new people, sometimes you don’t know which way they’re going to go, whether there may be some good things or some struggles.”
