Visitors bureau to suspend operations

Convention members want commissioners to join them for an open forum March 31.
NILES -- The Trumbull County Convention & amp; Visitors Bureau will suspend operations March 31.
After a brief closed-door meeting Thursday at the bureau's headquarters, members announced the office closing but stressed the lawsuit filed against the county will continue.
"The county will not give us the money from the bed tax, and we need to be fiscally responsible so we will have to suspend operations," said Paul Petrich, chairman.
"We will lay off our two employees and give a 30-day notice to the owner of this building."
Commissioners refuse to give lodging tax proceeds to the bureau. The commissioners say they view the bureau as a private corporate entity without accountability. The bureau has filed suit seeking the funds.
"They have to follow our rules or they won't get the money -- it's that simple," said Commissioner James Tsagaris, when reached at home after the meeting.
The two boards have been at odds nearly 18 months regarding claim to a percentage of the county's lodging tax and board membership. The lodging tax in Trumbull County is 4 percent.
Money
About a year and half ago, the commissioners discovered the visitors bureau had accumulated $200,000 in a savings account. Commissioners said the lodging tax proceeds shouldn't be used for investment purposes.
The commissioners are refusing to give the bureau $159,000 in tax proceeds and have held back the money since last July.
The commissioners said that before they release the money they want the visitors bureau not to appoint its own members to open-ended terms, return to a seven-member board rather than nine, drop the lawsuit, return to bylaws approved 20 years ago and submit its budget to commissioners for approval.
"This is a travesty," said Dominic Baragona, a board member. "Politics should not get in the way. We are volunteers. We are trying to promote the area. I don't believe the public is aware of what is really happening. We invite the commissioners to join us at a public forum March 31 at 4 p.m. at Alberini's Restaurant to bring out the total truth."
The members said that the bureau has not received the amount of bed-tax revenues the county has said it has for the past few years. The county stated the bureau had received bed-tax revenues of $428,530 in 2000, $433,000 in 2001, and $414,920 in 2002. But the bureau says it received $346,030 in 2000, $349,000 in 2001, and $292,300 in 2002.
"Where's the other money," Baragona questioned. He noted that is one of the questions he intends to ask during the public forum.
"I have no idea what they are talking about," said Tsagaris, who said he would attend a public forum but not at the restaurant, which is owned by board member Richard Alberini.
"We want to lay it on the line and say it like it is and then let the public decide," Alberini said. He stressed that all state audits performed on the bureau have come out clean.
Suggestion
Board members also suggested that the county, which is having financial problems, may be thinking about hiring a firm to promote the county. Bureau employees said representatives of a local marketing firm have come to the bureau recently asking for information and stating that they would be putting together a marketing strategy for the county.
"The Port Authority, which oversees the airport, has recently hired a firm and there was some talk about them doing the work, but it was just talk because we didn't know what was going to happen with the convention and visitors bureau," Tsagaris said.
The two employees, who will be laid off at the end of month, Anita Gutzky and Wanda Modarelli, said they thank the board for standing up for what is right. "We believe in you and we believe in what you are doing," Modarelli said. "Thank you and we support you."