Council Will Not Consider Visitors Center's Request for Mid-Year Funding
The Herndon Town Council decided not to hear a request for mid-year funding for the Visitors Center at its work session on Tuesday
The Herndon Town Council heard two requests for mid-year funding by nonprofit organizations on Tuesday night, including the Herndon Dulles Visitors Center and the Herndon High School Sports Boosters.
Town Manager Art Anselene said the Sports Boosters requested $50,000 to help with the new turf fields at the high school, and the Herndon Dulles Visitors Center requested $20,000 to support its operations.
The council agreed to consider the request from the Sports Boosters at the amount of $25,000, however it will not consider the request from the Visitors Center. The Sports Boosters request will come from proffer money, or money provided to the town by developers. The money for the Visitors Center would have come from the town's general fund, which is paid into by taxpayers.
Council member Connie Hutchinson said the Visitors Center has been approved for a number of grants but has not received them yet. Hutchinson volunteers as the executive director of the Visitors Center and is the former president of its board of directors.
Hutchinson said the organization works to support the town’s restaurants and hotels. However the organization can’t promote one business over another, so it promotes all of them, she said. “In that regard, it acts as an economic development arm for the town,” Hutchinson said. She said the center assists visitors and residents with questions on things ranging from town services to area attractions.
Councilwoman Grace Wolf said the Visitors Center provides a service to the town, but she wants to know if the town is best served by having an outside organization handle the function or if it might be better to handle some of the services “in house.”
Wolf said she is concerned the Visitors Center’s board of directors hasn’t done all they can to explore other revenue possibilities. She said the board seems to be coming to the town as a first resource for additional funding, rather than through membership drives or fundraisers.
Hutchinson said the Visitors Center is not allowed to have memberships, creating a huge financial deficit. She said the organization has held a number of fundraisers over the years, but without membership it’s hard to find enough volunteers to do large fundraisers. She said it has received donations.
Hutchinson said it isn’t that the Visitors Center is going to the town as a first request, but as a last ditch effort because the organization has been unsuccessful in searching for other forms of funding. She said the town is considering requiring organizations that receive grants from the town to get half their operating funds from other revenue sources, but if the town is not willing to support the organizations, why would other possible grantors support them.
Wolf said the grant to the Visitors Center is the largest grant the town provides to any organization and she thinks that shows the town does support the Visitors Center’s efforts.
Councilwoman Sheila Olem said there is concern over whether or not the Visitors Center is worth staffing, or whether applications on iPhones and other devices could provide tourism information.
Olem said the problem she sees with the request for $20,000 is that when the organization received $32,000 at the beginning of the fiscal year in the summer, $20,000 of that money was already spent. She said the money already provided by the town was substantial.
Councilman Jasbinder Singh said, “Quite frankly, I don’t have any idea of what services are actually provided.” He said he questions how much the town is truly being benefitted by the organization.
Hutchinson said one of the challenges of the Visitors Center is that until recently, when she became a volunteer employee of the organization, she was prohibited from talking about the Visitors Center and how it served the community. She said the organization has been able to get the town listed in tourism magazines and on tourism websites.
“It’s been a challenge because there hasn’t been another voice for the Visitors Center,” Hutchinson said. She said now that she’s a volunteer she can talk about the things the Visitors Center achieved.
Wolf said right now they are looking at a fundamental shift in how visitor center services are provided. She said many of the things that are paper and people intensive and the organization doesn’t seem to include an adoption of technology. She said the request boils down to a question of where do they want the money to go and how would they spend taxpayer money smartly.
Wolf said at this time she would not support providing the Visitors Center with additional funding. Singh said his impression from asking others in the community is that it is not something he is convinced is a need.
Olem said if the Visitors Center needs more than 50 percent of its budget from the town to operate she has a problem with that. Especially when the town recently passed a resolution asking the Parks and Recreation Department to meet 75 percent of their budget by 2018, she said. “I can’t see funding an organization at 100 percent that isn’t providing a very obvious service,” she said.
Hutchinson said the initial desire was for the town to operate the Visitors Center, however it was the Herndon Chamber of Commerce that originally started it, and it eventually became a separate organization. She said the organization has struggled for nine years to come up with funding.
Hutchinson said if the town is interested in operating the Visitors Center that would be great because it’s what the board has been hoping for, but it would probably be more cost effective for the Visitors Center to provide its own funding and staffing, with some assistance from the town.
Olem said she doesn’t necessarily think the town should provide the service. Singh said he doesn’t see why the town staff can’t answer the types of questions the Visitors Center handles. Wolf said they could consider a contract service between the town and Visitors Center.
The council decided not to hear the Visitors Center’s request for mid-year funding. The request for mid-year funding for the Sports Boosters will be considered at the Feb. 8 public hearing.
Lisa Merkel
8:52 am on Thursday, January 20, 2011
I think it is important to note that the funding available to consider using for the Sports Boosters request (for the astroturf fields at Herndon High School) would come from proffer money - funding set aside from developers as a part of redevelopment projects specifically for future improvements - and not taxpayer money. Funding for the Visitors Center and other similar grants comes from the General Fund, which is directly funded by Town of Herndon taxpayers.
Leslie Perales Loges
11:35 am on Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thanks for adding that information, Lisa! That is very important to note.
Alison Baez
2:36 pm on Thursday, January 20, 2011
I think the Town of Herndon could benefit greatly from a visitors center, particularly when we have Metro and Downtown planning going on, and soon we will have more 'visitors' to the town. I think Herndon could leverage this resource to help promote the values and unique aspects of living, working and playing in Herndon. However, before the town agrees to any additional funding, as a taxpayer, I would like to see and understand the mission, vision and outcomes of the Visitor Center.
Laura Jones
1:34 pm on Friday, January 21, 2011
I think this is a very short-sighted self-serving decision by the Council. If you are downtown on a weekend day, you see more than half of the trail users stopping in the Center where they are warmly welcomed. It makes Herndon a friendly place. The Visitors' Center combined with the Museum also does a wonderful job of presenting and preserving Herndon's history in a time when all of it would disappear.
I think this is a mistake and I hope that the Council will reconsider before they have lost an opportunity forever.
Linda Baughan
5:51 pm on Saturday, January 22, 2011
Whenever I travel, especially in Virginia, I always make it a point to stop by the Visitor Centers. I have found invaluable information in these places and it is one of the things I always remember about my visit. Three notable examples are the Visitor Center in Smithfield, VA, Orange, VA, and Zion Crossroads, VA. The people at these centers are always courteous, friendly and helpful.
As a traveler, I always have questions about what places to visit, where to eat, and other questions about things I have read about and the location's history. I know you can find a lot of information on the internet but that doesn't take the place of a real live human being.
The fact that Herndon does not support a Visitor Center for our special little town is an embarrassment for its citizens. I have lived in Herndon all my life and feel its uniqueness should be shared with everyone.
Linda Baughan
Ann H Csonka
3:44 pm on Monday, January 24, 2011
Linda is right -- a Visitors Center needs a real live person to talk to and answer questions. I, too, made a point of stopping at Visitors Centers in many places for years during any down time while traveling on work assignments. We also know a number of folks who have visited the Herndon Visitors Center have not found welcoming warmth.
The management limitations noted by Councilmember Hutchinson – no memberships allowed and being prohibited from talking about the Visitors Center make no sense, and if grants have been obtained perhaps the list should be provided to the Council with a request to match.
Herndon’s Visitor Center and Historical Society Museum ARE extremely important and useful elements of the Town if they are dynamic and staffed, and perhaps offer more options. Having information apps on iPhones etc is not a bad idea, but basic tourist info is already available on the internet.
We have never seen many Trail users stopping at the center; perhaps we were in the vicinity on the wrong weekends. However, if there were an interactive electronic kiosk near the V.Ctr & Museum, it could attract visitors from the trail and others going by and extend both visitor and historic information during times that the facilities are not staffed. Also, IMHO, the Town should include an adjacent “transparent” Vis. Ctr. Facility in future plans, as well as restoring an old-style Crane fountain in that area in StreetScape plans.
Barbara Glakas
4:05 pm on Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Everyone I have ever spoken to supports the idea of having a Visitor’s Center, and I agree. The Visitor’s Center, however, is not an arm of the town government. It is a non-profit organization run by its own Board. The Town of Herndon has shown its repeated support for the Visitor’s Center by annually awarding their biggest grant to the Visitor’s Center each year (The HCTV “grant” is from franchise fees, not from General Fund money).
Just last July, the Town awarded the Visitor’s Center a $32,000 grant. What was rejected last week was a request for an additional $20,000. The Visitor’s Center Board may need to revisit its operations so that they can generate more revenue (or cut its expenses) so that they can run its own operation without being so overly dependent on town grants. Another alternative plan may be for the town to take over the Visitor’s Center and to envelop it into its new economic development plan, if the Visitor Center Board decides that they are unable to do adequate fundraising.
Judy Downer
3:49 pm on Thursday, January 27, 2011
At other visitor centers they have restrooms available for the public. The depot does not have an ADA restroom so it is not available to the public. Perhaps we should look at ArtSpace for a visitor's center, It is located just off the trail, has plenty of parking and could easily be found with a couple of directional signs.
Ann H Csonka
2:44 pm on Friday, February 4, 2011
The VC is best located where it is, in the "heart" of Herndon's downtown core and associated with the Town's heritage at the Depot. However, it does not have to be confined to one end of the Depot, with no restrooms. Plans could include an ancillary structure in the future (as mentioned previously) and/or be associated with the old Town Hall and use some of that space, which also has an accessible restroom. Using that space would work best with the unobtrusive transp. structure to connect the two historic buildings.
Tony DeBenedittis
12:28 am on Sunday, February 6, 2011
Its nothing short of hilarious to hear the hypocritical liberal left talk about fiscal responsibility depending on the issue. If we were to move the visitor center to Artspace that would be OK right? And let the taxpayers fund art centers or nature centers to spew the liberal line or the global warming hoax. Yes the devil is in the details and Singh et al are in bed with the devil FOREVER, and cannot duck it further. But you gotta have it ALL right? Sad for the town but great for you to have taxpayers pay for your hobbies.
And all you have to do is march to the beat of Jon Liss and the Virginia New Majority to get everything you want!!! Town election day 2012 can't come too soon to boot these guys OUT!
Tony DeBenedittis
Ann H Csonka
12:19 pm on Monday, February 7, 2011
Nature experiences and environmental education are not about drawing lines, taking sides or opinions of any groups/people/issues mentioned.
Nature ed and ecology are not just “hobbies” to those who seriously share and often work in natural sciences. We have taught and provided some opportunities for people to learn as a commitment to understanding our world.
Kids may see/hear words in school: “every third bite of food you eat started with a flower pollinated by an insect”.
BUT when they search flowers in a meadow to count little insect pollinators (in addition to showy butterflies) and watch them work, they learn with most of their senses and experience a bit of the real world. That learning sticks better; they know it differently!
Nature ed is not "politics". It is working toward awareness that’s needed so younger generations (and some of the older ones) have a relationship with the natural world. Natural connections are lost as people live more in cities/suburbia and focus on electronic space.
NATURE CENTERS ARE GATEWAYS to natural systems and living.
It’s common sense to learn about water supply,
that soil is more than dirt + food grows in it,
the functions of fields and forests…local ponds and oceans…food chains and orchards,
how thundersnow happens,
landscaping & building things in ways so people stay healthy instead of allergic to
...or poisoned by excessive chemicals/pollution, and
living in harmony w/wildlife with whom we share the planet
Marie Cochran
2:05 pm on Sunday, February 6, 2011
If a visitor center can't be afforded then it can't be afforded. Yes, it would be nice to have...just like the nature center or art gallery. Everything benefits from something, somehow. BUT, in a time where the economy is still trying to hold on, and the fact that the town has already provided funding in the past, I think it's important for us to look at all aspects of the request including the benefits the town would receive before spending anymore money. If the organization doesn't have the money for something and you've been trying to "make it work" for nine years, then it's time to let it go.
In regards to the Council, I think it was a responsible decision that they had to make even though I'd like to see the visitor center stay.
As for town election day...if you don't like how things are being run then why not run for a seat yourself? Either way, you'll never be able to make everyone happy...nor will those currently voted in.