The Sun Valley City Council voted unanimously Thursday, Oct. 18, to renew the city's contract with the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau for services rendered.
The vote was taken after the chamber's executive director, Carol Waller, presented a quarterly report that reflected the impact of the Castle Rock Fire on local option taxes (LOT) in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, which showed a downturn in sales. However, Waller also enumerated the resiliency of the local economy.
Waller explained that, in her view, having recently attended a national travel writers' conference, Sun Valley and Ketchum are "still getting good spin" despite the conflagration that resulted in the cancellation of Wagon Days over Labor Day weekend.
Waller credited Sun Valley for the boost to business and the spirit of the valley derived from the "Kick Ash Bash" hosted in Sun Valley last month in honor of the firefighters who defended the community from the wildfire. The event brought at least $4,000 in LOT money, Waller said. "Individual vendors were able to sell (their products). People in the audience really loved it ... and they partied (in town) later in the night."
Going over the numbers during the fire, taxes from alcohol sales in Sun Valley were actually up 19 percent from the previous period, although lodging and retail dollars were down 5 and 11 percent respectively.
The Sun Valley contribution to the chamber is $338,000 for strategic planning that includes tourism promotion, visitor services and support, air transportation support, business support and infrastructure advocacy and promotion. For example, in the chamber's widely distributed getaway guide, Friedlpfeiffer, there is information in the Events section about the new Sun Valley Orchestra Pavilion set to be completed for the 2008 concert season.
At the meeting, the council also voted to contribute $10,000 to the nonprofit Wood River Economic Partnership for an economic analysis that will help provide a baseline of information for the establishment of a business incubator program. And, the Blaine County Housing Authority will receive $35,000 as part of a contract for their services in the valley-wide quest for continued affordable housing solutions.
- In other news, Michelle Frostenson was appointed treasurer and the council reviewed and approved the mayor's signature on a letter in support of a comprehensive recycling coordination effort to involve all county municipalities and service providers.
