Collins appointed to TDA board
Jackson County Commissioners appointed Dale Collins to the county’s Tourism Development Authority Board, filling a vacancy that had been left open since before December.
At the Feb. 4 county commission meeting, the board received two recommendations from the JCTDA for prospective board members — Dale Collins of Tuckaseegee Fly Shop in Sylva and Cathy Busick, a member of the Appalachian Womens Museum Board.
According to Executive Director Nick Breedlove, Collins has served a term on the JCTDA board but has sat out the requisite year required before serving again.
Chairman Mark Letson sought a motion to approve one of the two candidates during the Feb. 4 meeting, but no one made a motion. Commissioner Jenny Lynn Hooper asked why a third candidate, John Faulk, had not been vetted by the TDA. Letson said that while both Busick and Collins had applied to be members of the TDA board, Faulk had not.
Rather than selecting from the two candidates presented at the Feb. 4 meeting, the board decided to delay the appointment until the Feb. 18 meeting so Faulk could be vetted and added to the pool of candidates.
At the Feb. 18 meeting, Letson made a motion to appoint Collins to serve on the board. Commissioner Michael Jennings seconded the motion.
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“I’ll make a motion for Mr. Faulk, I know him,” said Hooper.
Letson called for a vote on Collins, who was approved 3-1.
Late last year, commissioners had passed on a recommendation from the JCTDA board to appoint Bernadette Peters to the board vacancy, with Smith claiming Peters had a conflict of interest, even though Letson said he had confirmed none existed.
“I spoke with Mr. Breedlove after our last meeting regarding how they came to Peters being on the Tourism Development Authority, and she’s gone through an extensive amount of vetting, background checks and conflict of interest,” Letson said during a Dec. 17 meeting. “Peters serves more as an economic developer, not necessarily tourism development. So, if there are no objections, I do recommend Peters to be on the TDA.”
In October, the commission approved a request from the TDA to expand career categories permitted to make up the JCTDA board. Because several hotels in the county have consolidated under the same ownership, there has been difficulty getting enough members to fill the board.
Previously, board members had to be hoteliers of establishments with 10 or more rooms, with some representing the northern and some representing the southern portions of the county. However, with the change approved by commissioners, board membership is now open to hospitality and tourism workers more generally.
