The Village of South Jacksonville Board of Trustees tabled action on a tourism grant Thursday night.
The trustees were taking action on a tourism grant request of $25,000 to the Prairieland Heritage Museum’s annual Steam Show event.
The grant request was submitted earlier this month by members of Prairieland’s board. The Village Board of Trustees have recently taken closer looks at tourism grant funding, asking organizations to provide receipts and be more itemized in their requests prior to being reimbursed rather than the money being handed over carte blanche for various events.
Village President Dick Samples says that there also needs to be further clarification on some language in the tourism grant ordinance that needs to be explored on what the village can and cannot reimburse organizations for: “We need some more definitions on how this money can be spent legally and what it can be spent for. We need some direction on it. The hang up is that I gave the village board a copy of an email from [Village Attorney] Rob [Cross], and it said it must be used to promote tourism and overnight stays in [South] Jacksonville. There are certain things that people put down on the application, as far as a budget and what they want money for that has nothing to do with spending it for tourism or to promote the Village of South Jacksonville and put heads on beds.”
Samples says there is no argument that the Steam Show is the largest annual event that the village is a part of: “I don’t think there is any argument about it. It is the largest event in South Jacksonville. It could potentially bring in 7,000-10,000 people over a three-day period. I don’t see a lot of people staying at the hotels, but it’s the idea of them coming in and spending money locally at our gas stations, restaurants, and all of that stuff.”
Samples says he hopes to have some ideas from Village Attorney Rob Cross to present before a vote at the next meeting. Village trustees were also in consensus that members of Prairieland’s board as well as Trustee Paula Belobradjic-Stewart should also be in attendance before further discussion and action be taken. Both were absent on Thursday night for the meeting. The next South Jacksonville Board meeting is scheduled for July 11th at 7PM.