County Adds Tourism Board Member, Former Clerk Named To Airport Board

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Grant County Commission made some changes to boards, during their meeting February 18, adding a new member to the Tourism Board and an old friend to the Airport Board.

Chamber of Commerce Director Marieta Hauser approached the commissioners with a recommendation for the Tourism Board after Jessica Annis stepped down. Annis was appointed to the board in 2021.

“It’s up to you all to appoint somebody to the Tourism Board,” Hauser said. “We typically try to find somebody that is in the tourism business of some sort, or somebody who has a real interest.”

Hauser said Corporate East Hotel Manager Lana Rodriguez was interested, but left it to the commissioners. Commissioner Darren Figgins asked if other people in the community fit that position and Hauser said no because Grant County doesn’t have many tourism-related businesses.

“So that gets to be a little bit of a challenge,” Hauser said, adding Ginger Anthony from the Historic Adobe Museum is on the board, as well as Debbie Long, Bill Stewart and Marsha Flummerfelt. “Lana’s knowledge of the hotels and the stays, and things like that, I think would be a benefit to the community.”

Figgins moved to appoint Rodriguez to the Tourism board, seconded by Mark McGaughey, and the motion passed 3-0.

Former Grant County Clerk Sheila Brown was appointed to the Airport Board, adding to a board that has several vacancies. Brown was active with airport-related issues while county clerk and will join Kevin Moyer and Ed Neidert, and Airport Manager Steve Rice.

“I talked to some of the airport folks and they said ‘Well that’s a no-brainer,’” Figgins said. “And I agree with that.”

McGaughey made the motion to appoint Brown to the board and Figgins seconded the motion, and it was approved 3-0.

•Senior Center Director Nancy Borthwick discussed several issues, beginning with a switch for a fire suppression system, should any of the ovens at the center malfunction. Commission chairman John Martin said the amount was below $5,000 and all Borthwick needed was a record of who bid and use her discretion.

“We do authorize you to get it fixed,” Martin said.

Borthwick said the center needed some exercise equipment, such as ankle weights, but Martin asked if she could take it up with Senior Center Inc. and if they couldn’t do it, bring it back to the county.

“I’m not saying they need to, or that they should, I’d just like them to have a little bit of their input on it,” Martin said. “These were the kind of things they felt like they wanted to spend their money on. If they don’t feel like that, that’s fine.

“We’re not saying no, we’re (asking) are they interested in this because when they talked to us, I got the impression this was the kind of thing they want to spend their money on,” he added.

•Borthwick said she hired A-1 out of Garden City to fix the locks at the senior center.