Dear editor,
Given the recent article in the newspaper, as the chamber liaison for the Town of Port McNeill, I wanted to take a brief moment to clarify a couple of things. I wish to also state that I am speaking as the council representative for the chamber and not for town council as a whole.
It was reported that the hesitancy on the part of council to fund the chamber to run the VIC is a result of two things: incomplete bookkeeping and the lack of resource based industry support on the part of the chamber.
On the matter of the bookkeeping I feel the chamber did answer those questions that were asked by the town. Suggestions by the town regarding financial reporting, the website, and advertising that seemed to lean specifically towards the Chamber (not tourism based) were taken into consideration and changes have already been implemented. I feel the chamber has been more than cooperative.
The $20,000 funding that was granted is for operating the Visitor Info Centre. The money used to promote businesses in the area comes from a portion of the business licenses sold and chamber memberships. As a council we need to remind ourselves of that when requesting them to give more focus to resource based businesses. I believe that the chamber has done and continues to do an outstanding job promoting the business community as a whole.
Gaby Wickstrom
Port McNeill