HARLINGEN — For two years, the 12-member advisory board charged with guiding the Harlingen Convention & Visitors Bureau hasn’t held a meeting.
That’s because it has so many members, it’s failed to make a quorum, Melissa Landin, executive director of the city’s CVB department, said yesterday.
Now, Landin is requesting city commissioners create a seven-member board to oversee the CVB as the city moves closer to building a $14.8 million convention center.
“For the past two years, it’s been difficult for the board to make quorum, so reducing the number of board members would reduce the number needed to make quorum,” Landin said.
For the current 12-member board, it takes five members to make a quorum, or the minimum number of members needed at a meeting to conduct city business.
Under the proposed seven-member board, four members would make a quorum.
At a meeting Monday night, commissioners approved the first reading of an ordinance that would create the new board.
“Every city board provides advice and guidance to city staff,” Landin said yesterday. “We want an active and engaged board representative of individuals who have a stake in the marketing and tourism of the city.”
The new board would be made up of two members who would be owners or employees of city hotels or motels; a member who would own or manage a city restaurant; a member who would own or manage a city retail business; a member representing the arts; a member working as an organizer or promoter of sporting events; and a member representing nature tourism.
Officials are beefing up the CVB department as the city prepares to break ground on the convention center, which would be attached to a 150-room Hilton Garden Inn hotel.
As part of an agreement, the city would fund construction of the 43,700-square-foot convention center while San Antonio-based developer BC Lynd would build the hotel near Sam’s Wholesale Club in the Harlingen Heights business district.
While BC Lynd would operate and maintain the convention center, the CVB department would be charged with promoting and marketing the city to draw tourism.
Early this year, City Manager Dan Serna began to build up the three-member CVB staff to “aggressively” market the city to draw tourist dollars here.
For about two years, the CVB executive director’s job had remained vacant as officials searched for the right candidate.
In February, Serna hired Landin, who had begun working as the city’s public information officer.
Landin, a former Brownsville city commissioner who had served as communications director for the South Padre Island Convention & Visitors Bureau, said she’s working to promote Harlingen as a destination center.
After more than a year, the CVB department hired a marketing manager who also works as an events coordinator.
Now, the department also staffs an executive secretary.
