Montgomery County issued a brief statement Wednesday saying it would be up to Christiansburg to decide whether the city would continue to work with the county and Blacksburg on a joint tourism program the three municipalities have operated for a decade.
In response to claims that the joint tourism program was invalid due to the expiration of the operating agreement, the county statement said the renewal of the agreement had been put on hold until Christiansburg clarified its plans.
The joint tourism program was criticized at three Christiansburg City Council meetings this month. Council members said the city has been unhappy with the way it has been portrayed in the program’s marketing for at least two years. In March, Christiansburg council members approved a 12-month notice period for the tourism program, during which the city will end its participation and also stop its financial support.
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The three municipalities are funding the tourism project with a share of the revenue from lodging taxes. Christiansburg’s support is expected to be about $179,000 in the current fiscal year.
This month, Christiansburg council members Johana Hicks and Kim Bowman urged the city to immediately end its support for the tourism program, arguing that the organizing agreement was no longer binding because it was contingent on satisfactory performance.
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Additionally, Hicks said the tourism program’s organizing agreement expired last year. Without that agreement, she said, the city has no obligation to contribute money.
At a council meeting on Tuesday, Hicks and Bowman asked their colleagues to agree to immediately halt payments to the tourism board, but the council voted 4-2 against Hicks’ request.
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Hicks said Tuesday that the city should demand repayment of the money transferred since the end of July 2023, when the last extension of the operating agreement ended.
Other council members disagreed. Mayor Mike Barber said he was not sure if the agreement was no longer valid.
Council member Tim Wilson said that while he had criticized the tourism program, he felt he needed to go beyond complaining and clarify what he wanted from the tourism initiative. Council members agreed to further discuss their tourism goals at a future work session.
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The Roanoke Times, file
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Also at Tuesday’s meeting in Christiansburg, city resident and frequent critic of local government Chris Waltz told council members they were misusing taxpayer money by sending it to a program whose operating agreement had expired. Waltz made similar comments Monday at a meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.
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On Wednesday, county spokeswoman Jennifer Harris issued a brief statement:
“Based on the existing tourism agreement, it is our understanding that the tourism partnership is in effect until the parties involved take action to terminate it,” Harris said in the statement. “Discussions with the City of Christiansburg regarding the future of the tourism partnership have been ongoing since 2023. As a result, all discussions regarding the renewal of the tourism partnership have been put on hold until the City of Christiansburg makes a decision on how it wishes to proceed.”
The agreement that created the joint program was signed on July 30, 2014, and was to run for three years, with two three-year extensions. The agreement specified how the county and two cities would fund the tourism program through lodging taxes, stated that the county would serve as the fiscal agent for the program, and established two boards to manage the program’s activities.
A board of directors consisting of the two city managers and the county manager or their designees would oversee staffing, budget and general operations of the program. The board would appoint an executive director.
The agreement also called for the creation of a nine-member Tourism Development Advisory Council, consisting of one member from the Board of Supervisors and two city council members, a representative from the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, and five members who owned, operated or employed local hotels, restaurants or attractions, plus a representative from Virginia Tech as a non-voting member.
According to the agendas published on the tourism group’s website, the works council has met eight times this year, most recently on Friday. The tourism development council has met three times this year, most recently in June.
The minutes of the June meeting of the Tourism Development Council were not posted online. However, the minutes of the previous meeting on March 25 were available.
At the March meeting, Christiansburg City Manager Randy Wingfield was present and announced that Christiansburg would withdraw from the tourism program with one year’s notice, the minutes said. When asked what could be done, Wingfield said there needed to be a greater focus on sports tourism, the minutes said.
Among the Tourism Development Council’s decisions in March was the reappointment of Christiansburg Councilmember Sam Bishop as council chair for the second consecutive term.
The minutes state that Bishop acknowledged “a clear lack of communication” between Christiansburg and tourism efforts and said the matter would be addressed.
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City of Christiansburg
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