Local economic development leaders, stakeholders work together to boost county’s attractivenes
By MARK MILLER
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In late May and early June 2019, a two-person team from Ball State University spent several days in Bluffton and Wells County. They were here at the request of the county’s economic development director, Chad Kline, to do a study of the county’s tourism potential. The study was funded by the Wells County Foundation.
As 2022 begins, the results of that visit will become visible as a formal tourism campaign will get underway.
“It’s been a process, and it remains a process,” Kline said, “but we’re getting there.”
The coming year will see significant progress. A branding effort, funded by the Wells County commissioners, is being completed. Vendors have been engaged to create a tourism guide, which is targeted for a March publication date. A website is up and remains in development (www.visitwellscounty.com) while a subcommittee of the Economic Development Council is working on “photography and video assets” that will be used on the website and in social media marketing.
There are a number of aspects in developing the county’s tourism potential, explained Audry Dudley, the recently hired tourism coordinator. She works under the direction of Kline and the Economic Development Council.
Ouabache State Park is a natural draw of tourists, but as noted in the Ball State report, more amenities need to be added to encourage those visitors to stay longer and spend money in the community outside the park.
“A lot of tourism is also from our own residents,” Dudley said. “Much of what we can do is catering to our own residents and then broadening that to attract visitors.”
“Developing our tourism efforts is much more than attracting weekend visitors,” Kline added. “It has a huge impact on attracting new residents and keeping our young people here. So tourism has always been a part of what I wanted to develop,” said Kline, who has been the county’s economic development director for six years now, but with all the other areas he needs to focus on, “it too often took a back seat.”
How we got here
The Ball State report resulting from that visit two and a half years ago, titled “From Bland to Brand: Wells County and its Tourism Potential,” was presented publicly in August 2019 by Craig Webster, associate professor of hospitality and food management, and Alexis Palmer, who was a graduate assistant at the time. Part of their efforts included an online survey opened for several weeks to county residents, seeking input on what the county has to offer and what the county needs in order to attract visitors.
“Wells County has the potential to attract visitors, as some other rural places have done,” the report stated. The summary also noted that local residents “have a desire for more things to do.”
The report detailed examples of what other rural counties have done and listed both the perceived weaknesses and strengths shared in the survey.
Prior to 2019, the EDC had used summer interns in an attempt to move tourism efforts along, but the report not only gave the council direction but supplied a summer intern in 2020 who “has made a significant impact, to say the least,” Kline said.
Dudley had been a student of Webster’s at Ball State and graduated in May 2020 with a degree in hospitality and food management. As a 2012 Bluffton High School graduate, her familiarity with the community has definitely been an asset, Kline said.
“We — the staff here and the EDC board — determined we wanted to find a way to keep her,” Kline said.
It took a joint effort between the EDC, Bluffton NOW! and the county, but she became a full-time employee in September 2020.
Their first order of business was to determine “if we create a tourism board, what it would look like,” Dudley said. She lined up several visits with leaders of CVBs — convention and visitors bureaus — around the state. She often heard that the way Wells County was getting organized is somewhat unique, but highly desirable.
“Almost all CVBs around the state are stand-alone groups,” she explained. “The positive aspects of being a part of the chamber and economic development is that we can co-mingle our resources; there are natural synergies.”
“And our goals are the same,” added Kline.
A small group of about six local entrepreneurs and leaders in the core tourism businesses, such as lodging, recreation, restaurants and retail, began meeting. That number continued to grow as the group, working as a subcommittee of the EDC, began to develop more concrete ideas and plans.
Currently, committee members, in addition to Kline and Dudley, are Brandy Fiechter, superintendent of the Bluffton Parks and Recreation Department; Scott Elzey, Wells County Historical Society; Rod and Paris Fetters, Rods Rustics; Brit Bauman, East Uniondale Goods; Heidi and Jeff Reed, Crimson House Café; Cory Mann, Wells County Trails; Zane Herr, Dash 90 Wines in Jackson Township; Justin Osborn, Comfort Inn; Jon Winne, Ouabache State Park; Laurie Baumgartner, sports coordinator of the Bluffton Parks Department; Chris Bryant, Parlor City Brewing; and Kathy Gardner, Washington Street Inn.
What’s next
In order to make tourism a permanent part of the county’s economic development efforts, the committee needs to become an official “tourism board.” That can’t happen, Kline explained, without “sustainable funding.”
The efforts to date have been covered by that combination of EDC funds, support from Bluffton NOW!, and the county commissioners. The “sustainable funding” would come in the form of what is known as an “innkeeper’s tax,” an amount added to the cost of renting a room in the county’s motels and bed-and-breakfast establishments.
“It’s a very common tax,” Kline said. “We all pay it practically any time we rent a room when we travel.”
Of Indiana’s 92 counties, about 80 have an innkeeper’s tax, including all the counties in northeast Indiana except Wells and Adams counties.
“As a local resident, we likely would not pay this tax,” Kline said, “only those who are visiting and renting a room.”
The most common rate in Indiana is 5 percent, which is what counties adjacent to Wells County have instituted, with the exception of Adams, which has none, and Allen, which recently raised its percentage from 7 to 8. Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, has the state’s highest rate at 10 percent.
Asked when he would like to see the tax implemented, Kline replied, “Oh, 10 to 15 years ago.”
He quickly added: “Seriously, we would like to see this happen as soon as possible.”
Webster’s Ball State study estimated that a 5 percent Innkeeper’s Tax in Wells County would raise, depending on occupancy percentages and room rates, between about $93,000 and $245,000 per year. All of that money, Kline said, would be invested in identifying and coordinating the county’s tourism assets and promoting those attractions through a variety of state and regional publications, a website, and social media.
“That tax is not paid by local people, unless for some reason someone would rent a room locally,” Kline emphasized. “It’s paid by people staying in our local motels and bed-and-breakfasts, just like we do when we travel.”
“There’s only so much we can do without having a sustainable source of funding,” Kline said.
miller@ news-banner.com
