At Tuesday’s Jackson City Council meeting CVB Executive Director Lori Nunnery, told the council good things are happening for Jackson’s tourism business but she said she hopes more can be done.
According to Nunnery, Jackson ranked 12th in tourism dollars in the state . Nunnery said more money is needed for marketing.
The Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau has an annual budget of $193,000. Nunnery says with more money would come product development, saying it is about having things for visitors to do.
The city is scheduled to pay off the West Tennessee Healthcare Sportsplex debt in December 2016. When that occurs the CVB will pick up an additional $150,000 in funding but Nunnery hopes the leaders will do something sooner.
Mayor Jerry Gist said he thinks the city will do more to support tourism saying we have to do more to get the traffic on I-40 to stop in Jackson
Councilman Ernest Brooks recognized six Jackson-Madison County students who participated in the “Do the Write Thing” Challenge.
DTWT is a national program that encourages students to write about their experiences with youth violence and express ideas on what can be done about the problem. The students are required to submit either an essay or poem with their stories and plans for change.
Brooks told the council, 563 middle school students submitted an entry and of those 20 finalists were chosen to have their essays or poems included in the 2014 Jackson “Do the Write Thing” Challenge book.
There are 10 boys and 10 girls. Billy Taylor, Brian Lane, Byron Rohner, Caleb Currie, Donnie Bradford, Ian Dunn, Jacob Forsythe, Jaden Harris, Jake Duncan, and Juan Martinez. April Calvillo, Emma Brewster, Eren Brooks, Jessica Scott, Kristen Nanney, Mercedes Carney, Payton Bunting, Raven Reeves, Terrihanna Ingram, Trinity Peoples.
Also on Tuesday the council members voted unanimously to annex 2.7 acres, more or less, on the west side of 45 Bypass South. The move comes at the request of the property owners. The owners of the property did so to allow the city to provide sewage services.
According to the agreement the owners will be required to pay connection and residential installation fees for the waste-water services and pay city taxes on the property.
