The members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s tourism industry working group were approved by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly during their regular meeting on Oct. 22.
The working group will this winter explore the benefits and impacts of tourism on borough revenue, costs and services — including the effects of a potential bed tax. The group is made of seven voting members, four of whom are members of the public and three are representatives of the tourism industry.
Representing the tourism industry will be Carol Fraser, of Aspen Hotels; Duane Bannock, of Uptown Motel; and Tom Tougas, of Major Marine Tours. Jon Faulkner, who owns Land’s End Resort, will serve as an alternate.
Denis Hippert of Sterling; Donna Hall of Homer; Larry Opperman of Soldotna; and Sargeant Truesdell of Soldotna will sit in the public seats. Donald St. John, of Kenai, is an alternate.
According to a memo by Borough Clerk Michele Turner, included in the assembly’s meeting notes, there were 22 applicants during an application period from Sept. 11 to Oct. 4. Of those, 11 sought the tourism industry seats and 11 sought the public seats.
From that pool, Borough Mayor Peter Micciche selected appointees and all were approved by the assembly on the Oct. 22 consent agenda.
Micciche said during the meeting that the group balances geographic areas, experience and background.
“I’m looking forward to those meetings,” he said.
No dates have been set as of Monday, though Micciche said that the work of getting meetings on the calendar could begin as soon as the appointments had seen borough approval.
The resolution creating the group, adopted by the assembly in September, says that the group will evaluate “tourism benefits and impacts” on the borough; discuss options to ensure “visitors are paying their fair share for the services they use”; and assess the effects of a potential bed tax.
Creation of the group came after the assembly considered in June a resolution that would have added a question to the October ballot asking borough voters whether the borough should levy such a tax. After roughly 80 minutes of testimony largely in opposition and largely by representatives of Kenai Peninsula lodging operations, the resolution was tabled.
Fraser, Bannock and Faulkner were among those who spoke against that resolution at a June assembly meeting.
A full recording of the Oct. 22 meeting can be found at kpb.legistar.com.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
