Hope Tourism Commission

The Hope Tourism Commission met in the City Hall Boardroom on Tuesday night (12-12).  After the approval of the minutes and the financial statement,  the permits and payments were covered. Overall the payments are looking good although there a few businesses which are behind. KFC and Rosie’s will look at their financials for missing payments. Super 8 was mailed out a letter. Little Caesar’s has caught up. Two Crumb’s is behind a couple of months. Martin’s last paid in September. Tab’s is 3 months behind. Big Mac’s is also behind.

Christy Burns from the Chamber of Commerce came and spoke on the watermelon festival. The UAHT and Chamber of Commerce partnership has been dissolved for this year’s watermelon festival.  She is trying to get as big a jump as possible on the planning of the next festival. The plan is to request the same amount of money as last year – $15,000 for the concert and $15,000 for festival.   A raise in price didn’t hurt in terms of the vendors in 2023.  The $30,000 was approved later in the meeting when the commission voted on the 2024 budget.

After some discussion a decision was made to approve a 3-year contract for the highway billboard as it is a good price.

There was a motion to approve over $5,500 for the signs for the Klipsch and Clinton Birthplace parking lot.

The James Black festival asked for donations. Since they are outside of the county it was turned down.

The next item was the budget for next year. After the spending this year,  the concern was expressed to spend less the next year and costs and revenues were examined with natural gas being a big cost. There was a motion to approve the budget which was seconded and passed. The work on the soccer complex parking was asked about. The lot has been extended adding 75-80 more spots. The volleyball nets are in and ready to go up.