Tourism Board

Suns owner named to tourism board Hagerstown Suns owner Winston Blenckstone joined the local tourism bureau's board of directors on Friday, said Executive Director Ben Hart. Blenckstone's nomination was approved by members of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau on Friday morning, Hart said. The terms of the 15 board members hasn't been determined yet, Hart said. That will be decided now that new bylaws have been approved, he said. Tourism officials said 23 bureau members attended Friday's meeting.

Tourism board chooses to use two logos The Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau has decided on two tourism logos, one of which is specifically targeted to Civil War tourism, the executive director said. "I think it was a great compromise. It gives us some flexibility," said Executive Director Ben R. Hart. The bureau will keep the logo featuring a banner patterned after the state flag, Hart said. A second logo will be similar, but feature the silhouette of a Civil War cannon in the center, he said.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer New Washington County tourism board members gave three of the bureau's former board members a vote of confidence on Thursday by re-electing them as officers. The former board had come under fire in recent months from some Washington County Commissioners and members of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, who said they thought the short-term board had overstepped its bounds by closing information centers and laying off employees.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer Members of the Washington County tourism board that will decide the fate of nine remaining tourism employees and the Breezewood, Pa., information center, will be elected on July 31, tourism officials said Thursday. Members of the temporary board of directors for the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted a meeting Thursday morning at the Ramada Inn to bring the bureau's roughly 130 members up to date on restructuring moves intended to direct more money toward marketing efforts than toward salaries.

The volunteer transition team designed to reform the Washington County's tourism agency isn't perfect. It's taken some debatable leaps of authority, formulated some debatable strategies toward tourism and handled the Convention and Visitor Bureau's staff with debatable compassion. It's operated in the dark and failed to keep the membership informed. That's a pretty heavy indictment. But despite the transition team's shortcomings, as one local business woman said during a tourism meeting this week, "we have to move on. " At this point, the transition team led by Ron Stansbury is Washington County tourism's best chance of moving on. In fact, the team has done what most governmental and pseudo-governmental groups locally find so reprehensible: Taken tough, unpopular stands in the name of the greater good.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer A panel was appointed Thursday to study and make recommendations on whether, and how, the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau should be restructured. The panel will study whether the tourism board should be private, public, or a not-for-profit group, said Tom Earley, co-chairman of the panel. Earley also is chairman of the Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce's tourism task force. About 37 local government and tourism industry officials met Thursday morning at the Ramada Inn in a follow-up to an Oct. 30 tourism round table to discuss how the tourism board should be structured.

The resignation of the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Convention & Visitors Bureau's executive director apparently was in the works for several months. After more than six years on the job, Andrea Ball announced Thursday that she had resigned effective that day. When contacted about her resignation, Ball said Thursday that she submitted a letter of resignation to the bureau's board president April 25 that made her departure effective Sept. 21. “I am offering five months notice to give you an opportunity to find a replacement and to complete what I hope is a very successful Pickin' In the Panhandle 2012,” Ball wrote in a letter to Kim Reid that she released Thursday to The Herald-Mail.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer Washington County tourism employees whose last day on the job was to have been June 30 have gotten a temporary reprieve with the help of the County Commissioners. Leroy R. Burtner, executive director of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, will still be replaced by Ben R. Hart, who was offered the post by the temporary tourism board of directors, officials said Friday. The county will pick up the tab for keeping the remaining employees in the downtown office and Breezewood, Pa., information center until a new board of directors can be elected by the bureau's membership, officials said.

Hagerstown City Council members said Tuesday they would extend the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau a $75,000 line of credit. The credit is needed to pay expenses, including payroll and rent for the downtown office, that have been accumulating since July 1, said Ron Stansbury, president of the tourism board. "But, right now we're broke," Stansbury said. The tourism board isn't expecting its next check from the hotel-motel room tax, which helps fund the tourism bureau, until late July, he said.

By JULIE E. GREENE and GUY FLETCHER Staff Writers Intervention by state legislators to revamp the embattled Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau might not be necessary because local tourism officials took steps Wednesday to restructure the bureau on their own. New bylaws, approved at a Wednesday tourism bureau meeting in the County Administration Building, replaces the tourism board with a transition team...

The resignation of the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Convention & Visitors Bureau's executive director apparently was in the works for several months. After more than six years on the job, Andrea Ball announced Thursday that she had resigned effective that day. When contacted about her resignation, Ball said Thursday that she submitted a letter of resignation to the bureau's board president April 25 that made her departure effective Sept. 21. “I am offering five months notice to give you an opportunity to find a replacement and to complete what I hope is a very successful Pickin' In the Panhandle 2012,” Ball wrote in a letter to Kim Reid that she released Thursday to The Herald-Mail.

Run for the money To the editor: The Washington County tourism board is missing out on a great opportunity to put the city on the map of worldwide attractions. Since the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain has been a tradition since Hemingway's time, why not the Running of the Bulls in Hagerstown, Maryland? (Herald-Mail, June 18) With ESPN televising the event, a dozen bulls would be turned loose at Four States Auction and, trampling anybody in the way, head down Memorial Boulevard to Municipal Stadium.

The Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau split from county government and went fully private in 1997. On Oct. 27, the board's executive director resigned under pressure, in the wake of an investigation into financial irregularities. So naturally, there's going to be the temptation to connect the dots and proclaim that privatization didn't work. But in this instance it did work, and it likely worked far better than it would have if it were still an arm of county government.

Tourism board chooses to use two logos The Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau has decided on two tourism logos, one of which is specifically targeted to Civil War tourism, the executive director said. "I think it was a great compromise. It gives us some flexibility," said Executive Director Ben R. Hart. The bureau will keep the logo featuring a banner patterned after the state flag, Hart said. A second logo will be similar, but feature the silhouette of a Civil War cannon in the center, he said.

Suns owner named to tourism board Hagerstown Suns owner Winston Blenckstone joined the local tourism bureau's board of directors on Friday, said Executive Director Ben Hart. Blenckstone's nomination was approved by members of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau on Friday morning, Hart said. The terms of the 15 board members hasn't been determined yet, Hart said. That will be decided now that new bylaws have been approved, he said. Tourism officials said 23 bureau members attended Friday's meeting.

You could be excused for being underwhelmed when the Association for Preservation of Civil War Sites announced it wanted to move to Washington County. Certainly the town of Sharpsburg was. And you could be excused for believing the Washington County legislative delegation was being a bit heavy handed with the old, recently dissolved tourism board. Certainly the County Commissioners did. But for a couple years now, off-stage events have moved steadily toward cementing Hagerstown as the recognized hub of Civil War tourism.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer New Washington County tourism board members gave three of the bureau's former board members a vote of confidence on Thursday by re-electing them as officers. The former board had come under fire in recent months from some Washington County Commissioners and members of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, who said they thought the short-term board had overstepped its bounds by closing information centers and laying off employees.

A slate of candidates for the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau board of directors includes three members of a transition board for the agency. President Ron Stansbury said he and two other board members were included on the slate to provide continuity between the two boards. The other two board members on the slate are Jim Kell, general manager of the Ramada Inn, and Dick Trump, owner of Valley Revue. The new board will have 15 members. The existing seven-member board took over in March and will leave office immediately following the July 31 election.

Hagerstown City Council members said Tuesday they would extend the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau a $75,000 line of credit. The credit is needed to pay expenses, including payroll and rent for the downtown office, that have been accumulating since July 1, said Ron Stansbury, president of the tourism board. "But, right now we're broke," Stansbury said. The tourism board isn't expecting its next check from the hotel-motel room tax, which helps fund the tourism bureau, until late July, he said.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer Members of the Washington County tourism board that will decide the fate of nine remaining tourism employees and the Breezewood, Pa., information center, will be elected on July 31, tourism officials said Thursday. Members of the temporary board of directors for the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted a meeting Thursday morning at the Ramada Inn to bring the bureau's roughly 130 members up to date on restructuring moves intended to direct more money toward marketing efforts than toward salaries.