Decatur County Visitors Commission

The Decatur County Visitors Commission met on Thursday.

The grant committee reviewed the grant requests and gave their recommendation. The recommendation for the Chamber of Commerce logo/rebrand was up to $2,500 in matching funds. This was tabled for further discussion and to gather quotes.

The 2022 budget was presented at the review meeting to the County Council who requested the board reduce their budget to $300,000. The board has worked hard to reduce their budget but have only reached around $350,000. County Council member Deanna Burkhart believes that the 30% cut from their original budget will not go unnoticed by the council. If the council approved this new budget the visitors commission will not be able to support grants as much as they have in the past. If the council enforced the $300,000 budget then the board will no longer be able to support grants without appropriated funds from the council.

The board approved the VDCI board mirroring their own.

There was a discussion on the fairgrounds. County Commissioners Chuck Emsweller and Mark Koors were present at the meeting. On Monday the commissioners dissolved the fair board as they felt they were not going in the right direction. The board had asked for financial reports for months and still have not received any of the books. This has been an ongoing situation for years. Both Emsweller and Koors have received numerous phone calls since their decision and 75% of them have been positive. The commissioners intent is to still have some sort of fair committee to run the fair and put the management of the grounds under the visitors commission. They would manage the day to day and they plan on discussing grounds keeping and mowing with the parks department. They believe the fairgrounds are underutilized and in the right hands could soar. The commissioners don’t know how much it costs to run the fairgrounds as they have not received any financial reports. They will need to look at the state of the building and see about repairs. This is a work in progress. The visitors commission will need to have further discussion on this however the county commissioners encourage them to be quick as this is not something that can wait.

Morgan Schofield

WTRE News

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