The Gadfly is a series of letters offering commentary on local issues and published in the Warrensburg Gazette.

Dear Editor

It's nice to have something positive to say about The Greater Warrensburg Area Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center (TGWACC&VC) for a change. I attended their tourism advisory board meeting on 4/20 and would like to report on what transpired. To begin with, all 5 appointed members attended; only the City Manager, an ex-officio member, was not represented. That means they were able to approve their By-laws so everyone can know their rules of operation.

The Tourism Administrator has prepared a local attraction map that TGWACC&VC can hand out; the advisory board suggested several worthwhile additions. Progress toward a community signage program was reported; supposedly the City is out on bid for directional signs. Another idea being worked on is a local guide to be placed in rooms at motels & B&Bs, including local history, restaurant list, shopping, a map, and attractions. While the original proposal was for a binder-type guide, the lodging representatives on the board preferred something that the guests could take with them.

TGWACC&VC also reported that a brochure rack will be restored to the depot waiting area and that Warrensburg brochures will be displayed at other AMTRAK stops across Missouri. The brochure promoting Powell Gardens as a Warrensburg-area attraction is at the printers, and a revised "Old Drum Story" booklet will be printed and will be given away rather than sold. To further promote Warrensburg, an Old Drum trading pin was suggested.

Another report was that the Animal Planet cable channel will air a movie on the trial of Old Drum on June 9th. However, the producers are said to have taken extreme liberties with the story (& you can't blame TGWACC&VC for this). Well, from the tourism standpoint, any publicity is good publicity, so any mention of Old Drum will put more interest in Old Drum related websites - which means Warrensburg!

Despite TGWACC&VC's progress, I still have concerns about inclusiveness, financial oversight and secretiveness.

• * Inclusiveness: will businesses of interest to visitors be omitted from guides just because they are not TGWACC&VC members? Only about 35% of area restaurants belong, so are visitors going to drive down the street seeing restaurants not listed in their guide? What kind of impression will that make?

• * Financial Oversight: The Tourism Advisory Board is not reviewing details on how the money is spent. The budget comparisons provided members show only the percent of budget spent, not what it was spent for. They are responsible for overseeing the 80% ($43,000 est) of the room tax money collected not siphoned off to TGWACC&VC operating expenses, the $23,000 left over from last year, and however much they are to receive from the state for the Powell Gardens promotion.

• * Secretiveness: The notice of meeting was posted at the statutory minimum time. I fail to understand why TGWACC&VC does not invite press scrutiny at meetings and public participation. Isn't this one of the reasons the CMSU Board of Governors is in trouble?