ACCOMAC, Va. (Delmarva Now) — Accomack officials approved a reworking of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission that includes having three of seven commission seats filled by representatives of the Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce, the Cape Charles Town Council and the Virginia Tourism Corporation.
The resolution also spells out other changes to the commission, including to staffing.
In addition to the three ex-officio members, the Accomack and Northampton boards of supervisors each will appoint one board of supervisors member and one at-large member to the commission.
"I really feel like those ex-officio members will be very important because ... Chincoteague is the hub of tourism on the Shore in general — and definitely, it's the hub of tourism in Accomack County — and Cape Charles is the hub of tourism in Northampton County. So, what they are doing is working," said Robert Crockett, Accomack Board of Supervisors Chairman.
He said having a representative from the Virginia Tourism Corporation on the commission also is key, "because that person will have access to whatever is going on in Richmond when it pertains to tourism."
Crockett made the motion to approve the changes.
According to the resolution, the executive director of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Chamber of Commerce will also serve as executive director of the tourism commission — that arrangement is on a trial basis, for six months.
The newly re-established tourism commission will be located at the Eastern Shore of Virginia Chamber of Commerce offices in Melfa, rather than at the current location in downtown Onancock, Crockett said.
The new commission members ultimately will decide on staffing, Crockett said.
The changes are contingent on Northampton’s Board of Supervisors also approving them, and will take effect Jan. 1 if both counties agree.
Crockett said he and John Coker of the Northampton County Board of Supervisors spent hours working on the wording of the resolution, which re-establishes the regional tourism commission with the changes.
The Accomack Board of Supervisors approved it by an 8-0 vote, with Supervisor Laura Belle Gordy absent due to illness.
The board also voted 8-0 to appoint Billy Joe Tarr as its representative to the new tourism commission and to appoint Adam James as Accomack’s at-large member.
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Talk about making changes to the tourism commission surfaced among Accomack officials last summer, and the Accomack board voted in August to consider options other than participating in the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission to promote tourism in the county.
A written comment, reported to have been posted on the wall at a July 27 forum where community leaders discussed economic development, was mentioned by supervisors as being behind the board's action.
The comment — attributed by board members to Kerry Allison, then-executive director of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission — allegedly was about the idea of outlawing industrial poultry farming in the region. Allison's name was on the paper posted on the wall, according to Crockett.
The tourism commission in September announced Allison was retiring.
Perdue Farms Inc. and Tyson Foods both have processing plants in Accomack County. The 2014 estimated payroll for poultry processing was $121.2 million, according to the Accomack Planning Commission's 2018 annual poultry report.
According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture for Accomack County, the market value of poultry and their products is $112.4 million and ranks fourth in the state in poultry production; there are over 4,000 employment positions associated with the poultry industry. The 2017 census is underway.
Tourism also is a major economic factor in the region.
The Eastern Shore was Virginia's fastest growing tourism region for three years leading up to the 2016 statistics from the Virginia Tourism Commission.
Tourism brought $7.5 million in taxes to towns and Accomack and Northampton counties that year, as visitor spending reached $274 million. That was a 22 percent increase since 2011.
