WILMINGTON — Several requests by organizations for retained hotel lodging tax were discussed at Thursday night’s Wilmington City Council meeting.
During the finance committee report, chairperson Mark McKay brought forward five requests made to them and discussed whether to pass them.
The tax, which passed in August 2016, will give the Clinton County Convention and Visitors Bureau 50 percent of the city’s hotel lodging taxes; 0.5 of the remaining 50 percent will go to the general fund, and the other 49.5 is administered by council “to support local governmental and/or non-profit, quality of life and economic development.”
Out of the four requested, two were approved by council.
The first was for $5,000 from Main Street Wilmington to set up information kiosks with an additional $5,000 request for promotion of upcoming events.
Darcy Reynolds, executive co-director of Main Street Wilmington, identified 51 historical buildings in Wilmington in a booklet from 2003 as part of the Commercial District Wilmington Ohio Walking Tour.
“The idea behind the kiosks and markers is to build history, or at least publicize the history of the buildings — what their initial purposes were and how they changed throughout the years,” said Reynolds.
Having them easily marked could be another way to induce people to come downtown and discover the hidden gems of Wilmington. She added that they aren’t planning to do one for all 51, but a selected a few. The council approved this request.
The second was for a $10,449.65 request from the Murphy Theatre to get a new sound board.
Leslie Keller-Biehl, development director for the Murphy, said that while they received $1 million from the state of Ohio, a part of that money had gone to more safety issues along with the restoration project that’s been going on. This request would go to buying the new sound board as part of fixing the sound issues they’ve had, according to Keller-Biehl.
“We prioritized this as being extremely important for keeping our doors open and having good quality shows, so that the word of mouth is that we are the place to go for a good quality show,” she said.
The other three topics included requests from the Hendee Broadcasting Company, the Historical Society, and the Clinton County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Council decided the latter two would be better discussed in the future since no one from those groups was present at the meeting. The council decided the broadcasting company didn’t meet the requirements as it was no longer a non-profit organization.
Also during council:
• During the Judiciary Committee, the council performed the second and third reading approving an ordinance which amended Ordinance No. 4823, “establishing classifications and salary ranges for certain city employees, repealing ordinance and parts of ordinance in conflict herewith.” This ordinance included changing the title of Executive Assistant to the Mayor to City Administrator.
