Lenox to hire special events consultant

LENOX – The board of selectmen has unanimously approved the hiring of a special events consultant for the spring.

This position will be 200 hours, run from March to mid-June and cost the town approximately $8,000.

The consultant will be tasked with working with both town government and the business community to make Lenox’s upcoming spring events – the Lenox Car Show, The Berkshire Cycling Classic and the Memorial Day Marathon – as succesful as possible.

Although the position was approved unanimously, when the board began discussing it, a split vote seemed very likely.

Throughout the discussion, Board of Selectmen Chairman Kenneth Fowler championed the proposal, characterizing the hiring as a test run to see if a full-time events coordinator was right for the town.

“My concept of this person is someone who works between the town, chamber of commerce and the merchants and brings everybody together,” he said in his opening remarks.

Chairman Fowler also said he saw the coordinator reporting to the town events committee and not the select board.

Selectman Edward Lane was initially uneasy with the idea of hiring a coordinator.

“I’ve wrestled with this for quite awhile,” said Selectman Lane, who didn’t like the idea of funding such a position in the long term without the whole town being supportive of events, saying many Lenox merchants hadn’t stepped up during past events. “Until everybody is on board with this, I feel real uncomfortable.”

Still, Selectman Lane was on the fence about whether to support the short-term position as a trial run.

“If this was for a permanent position, I’d be totally against this at this juncture,” said Selectman W. David Roche, citing, as Selectman Lane had, a lack of enthusiasm and effort in the business community and chamber of commerce towards capitalizing on and taking advantage of town events.

On the other hand, Selectman Roche praised the work of the events committee and said it could use a paid individual to assist in its work.

“To alleviate that burden, I’d be in favor of putting someone in at this juncture, until such point in time that we can honestly say…yes, we need an events coordinator, and this is how its going to work,” he said. “We need to have somebody come in and help out with these events to make sure they’re successful.”

“It’s not our job to be in marketing, but it is our job to try to figure out where we can look for new sources of revenue and expand those sources,” said Chairman Fowler.

Selectman Channing Gibson was very much in favor of hiring the position, citing the importance of tourism to the town.

“We need to capitalize on that [tourism],” he said.

Like Selectman Roche, Selectman Gibson praised the events committee and claimed hiring an events consultant would enhance its efforts.

“If we don’t do it, I think we ought to tell the events committee that they shouldn’t be spending too much time figuring out new events, ’cause I don’t know how they’re going to be managed,” he said.

“The events that we have had in the past will leave, if we don’t step up,” said Selectman Fowler, pointing to the fact the British Car Show wouldn’t be returning to Lenox this year.

He also emphasized the need for local merchants to support events and take advantage of the opportunities they presented.

Selectman John McNinch, who’d been critical of the idea of an events coordinator in the past, began his remarks by praising the events committee.

He also expressed frustration that it was always the same people who stepped up to support events.

“We’re tapping the same people all the time,” said the selectman, who wished more merchants would get involved. “My problem is not with this position, my problem is with the chamber, and the chamber not getting everyone involved.”

Still, Selectman McNinch supported creating the position as a test run, and its creation was passed unanimously.

The town will now be submitting an RFP in order to fill this new position.

The Lenox Events Committee had outlined some of the potential responsibilities and qualifications of a full-time event manager position prior to the vote on the spring events consultant. After the vote approving the consultant, the selectmen gave the committee the go-ahead to revise these guidelines for the new position.

The responsibilities in the committee’s original guidelines included developing Lenox events, coordinating with town government and businesses, identifying sponsors, coordinating marketing and public relations, reviewing past events and participating in meetings of the Lenox Events Committee.

Three to five years’ experience in planning and promoting events and having a bachelor’s or associate’s degree in marketing, public relations or an equivalent were some of the qualifications sought in a candidate.

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on February 21, 2013. 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

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