City, chamber will re-evaluate CVB operation

When Cape Girardeau's voters approved a sales tax on hotel and motel bills as well as restaurant bills in late 1983, part of the proceeds were to be used to fund a convention and visitors bureau.

The CVB would promote tourism and special events in the city, thereby bringing people to town who would stay in hotels and motels and eat in restaurants.

When the CVB was formed in 1984, the city contracted with the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce to run the operation. These year-to-year contracts continued nearly 10 years until 1993, when the city decided it wanted to take the "middle man" -- the chamber -- out of the picture to save money and to give the city more direct control of CVB operations.

Now, nearly another 10 years later, Mayor Jay Knudtson has tossed out the idea of having the chamber resume day-to-day operations of the CVB.

The most recent CVB director recently resigned, and this seems like a good time to evaluate what would work best.

Both the city and chamber need to give the future of the CVB serious consideration.

It performs an important function and needs to have the support and guidance that will produce the best results.