Lenox approves BVB plan

LENOX – The greater question of who should be marketing the town is yet to be answered, but for now, we know who is.

The selectmen approved a $15,000 marketing contract with the Berkshire Visitors Bureau (BVB) and Studio Two, a design firm in Lenox, at a special session this week.

At a previous select board meeting, Lauri O. Klefos, president and CEO of the BVB, gave a presentation to the selectmen on partnering with the Town of Lenox on a marketing plan for the year 2013.

The marketing plan will include a banner advertising Lenox on top of every page of the BVB’s website three months out of the year. For 2013, Lenox will have the top spot in May, September and November.

“From what I understand, we are getting a good deal here,” said Selectman Edward P. Lane.

Yet, even as the board met to approve the new campaign, the long-lasting question of whether or not the town government should be involved in marketing rang throughout.

“I am all for doing this plan but I still don’t know if we should be in charge,” said Selectman W. David Roche.

Selectman John McNinch, an outspoken critic of the town spending so much time on marketing, agreed with Selectman Roche.

“This board is in charge of a lot of things, and I still don’t think we should be in charge of marketing, too,” said Selectman McNinch, who explained he felt their time was better spent on issues like taxes, the budget and town infrastructure.

Yet, with meals and rooms taxes adding up to $1.8 million in the last fiscal year and no other group leading the way on marketing, the question of who should be was still left largely unanswered.

To answer that question, several members of the board and Bob Romeo, a member of the town’s event committee, felt the first step is the creation of a solid marketing plan.

“What we need to do is have a plan, then we will know what kind of funds we need,” said Mr. Romeo. “Once we have a plan we will know what services we want to buy from anyone, like the BVB, and then we can get those.”

Who should lead the development of that plan, local businesses or town government, continued to be a major theme of the meeting.

“We need the businesses to step up and say they want this,” said Town Manager Gregory T. Federspiel.

To that idea, the thought of perusing a business improvement district (BID) within the town was discussed and will again be a topic at the Dec. 12 selectboard meeting.

A BID is a defined area within which businesses pay an additional tax or fee in order to fund improvements within the district’s boundaries and to market the area.

Selectman Roche explained that being “hit once” by this form of fee might be more palatable to business owners, who are asked many times throughout the year to fund additional events in town.

There are nearly 1,000 BIDs in the United States, including nearby Northampton, Albany and Troy.

A BID must be a must be an area in a town or city where 75 percent of the land is zoned or used for commercial, retail, industrial or mixed uses.

Posted by Kameron Z. Spaulding on December 6, 2012. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry