Board member: Bureau is worthless
The board member said he felt as though he was deceived.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A new member of the Trumbull County Convention and Visitors Bureau board said he believes the bureau is "worthless" and should be closed down because it is a waste of money.
"It is absolutely, totally worthless," said William Kruppa, who was one of three board members appointed by county commissioners in April. "All it does is take taxpayer money and do what, I have no idea."
He said he did not believe the county should give any more money to the bureau while four ranking members -- Richard Alberini, Dominic Baragona, Paul Petrich and James Nuzzi -- still serve.
"As far as the old board goes, there is no way possible they should get more money," he said. "It would be a waste of taxpayer money."
Response
Nuzzi said that Kruppa was hostile to the board from the start.
"I'm really disappointed with Bill Kruppa. In my opinion, he is just a mouthpiece for one or more of the county commissioners," Nuzzi said. "I know he doesn't have any facts because he hasn't been here long enough to gather any of the facts."
Earlier this month, commissioners voted to yank the county's contract with the bureau and accept applications from an array of organizations for the job of promoting Trumbull County. The bureau and commissioners have tussled over cash reserves accumulated by the bureau and the appointment of bureau board members.
Kruppa said he was upset to learn that the board's $27,500 annual contribution to Giant Eagle LPGA Classic in Vienna did not buy it a booth at the event last week to hand out tourist information. Without the booth, he said the bureau's contribution -- amounting to nearly 10 percent of its annual budget -- was wasted.
He said he felt as though he was deceived when other members of the board told him there would be a booth at the event.
"The old board flat-out lied," he said, referring to the four board members with more than three months' tenure. "We gave that money away and we didn't get anything for it."
In the past, the convention board shared an information booth with event staff. However, after the event last year, officials decided to do away with the booth and to hand out information at entrance gates instead.
"They decided to relocate all the materials to the admission gates because they didn't get the traffic that they wanted [at the booth], " said tournament operations coordinator Rich Thomas.
He said the former bureau interim director was involved in the decision. Current bureau staff said they were not aware of the change until last week.
Handed out pamphlets
Tourism pamphlets and other bureau materials were still handed out to tourists, bureau chairman Richard Alberini said.
"We had somebody else doing our work for us," he said.
The LPGA tournament had a strong impact on local tourism, regardless of whether the convention board had a booth at the event, said Anita Gutzky, one of two bureau staff members.
"There is not a hotel room to be found anywhere in Trumbull County when the LPGA comes in," she said.