An update on the Welcome Center in downtown Jefferson was provided by Greene County Chamber president Omega Sang at the town hall meeting Monday evening.
In her prepared talk, Sang said the purpose of the Welcome Center is to provide a centralized point to showcase Greene County’s assets to visitors, and “a hub for active tourism promotion.” Marketing activities would be conducted from the Welcome Center. “As Greene County becomes known for its tourist attractions, we’ll be ready with a place that will provide a warm welcome and all the information tourists need. The Welcome Center will also hold much needed public restrooms for those tourists who come to town on bus tours and for events,” she said.
Funding for the Welcome Center has been a hot topic for the Chamber and the Jefferson city council. Sang played a diplomat’s role, saying only that the city council and the Chamber board are “in discussion right now on the next steps to move forward with construction. Once those discussions are complete, our fundraising campaign will resume and we’ll be seeking your financial support.”
In a question and answer period toward the end of the meeting, Chuck Offenburger of rural Jefferson asked for more information. “I’m concerned about that. I’m reading the progress that you’re making, and I know everybody has the best of intentions working this out and putting together a plan. I think it’s crucial for us to have a tourism program in place and operating, and if you need a deadline, I think it’s the day the casino opens. The number of people coming into this town is going to mushroom, and I’d like to hear that this is going to get worked out and be available that quick.”
“I completely agree with you, Chuck, that tourism is growing and prospering and it’s on the way to being an even greater part of our community here in Greene County,” Sang answered. She said that she and Jefferson city administrator Mike Palmer are visiting often about moving the project forward and “some decisions will be made very soon regarding our discussions that will propel us to move forward with that construction.”
“Definitely, we would like for that Welcome Center to be open with a tourism and events coordinator working within it and out of it prior to the casino opening on August 1st. That definitely would be ideal. That’s part of the reason we’re having discussions with the city, so we can move forward with the financing while we engage in our capital fundraising campaign. We want to move that along quickly, and so that’s part of our discussion. We’re hoping we can get the ball rolling very soon so we can get that construction completed and that can become an asset to our tourism industry,” Sang said.
Offenburger asked how much money is needed. Sang answered that total cost is $235,000, and that the Chamber has invested $90,000 in the project (including about $15,000 cash on hand and a $14,500 Greene County Community Foundation grant on the roof and exterior work). “We started a fundraising campaign in December and raised just shy of $8,000, and it came to a standstill as we continued to visit with the city about financing options and so forth. We’ll begin that again, and in the meantime we hope to move forward with financing as we raise funds to make that an exceptional place to promote tourism,” Sang said.
