| Chris Winston

chris.winston@roanoke.com, 381-1678

BLACKSBURG -- An effort to relaunch the region's tourism initiative got off to a shaky start Monday afternoon.

In its first airing of financial statements in more than six months, the Tourism Development Council learned that it had just $525 in the bank and more than $6,000 in credit card bills.

Members of the council, which was formed four years ago by the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, said they would soon approach their localities for funds to help pay the bills.

Mike Soriano, chairman of the chamber board, said the chamber is not in the financial position to pay the bill.

Montgomery County, Blacksburg and Christiansburg ceased making their normal contributions -- gathered from hotel and restaurant taxes and amounting annually to tens of thousands of dollars -- following the launch of an embezzlement investigation that coincided with the departure of former chamber President Shane Adams. No charges have been filed in the investigation.

A plan to relaunch the tourism effort, and renew confidence in local elected officials, appears to be starting from scratch.

In the nearly two-hour meeting, there seemed to be confusion over the status of incorporation and nonprofit paperwork for the proposed New River Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau and debate about who was in charge of it.

Aradia Zenobia, a former chamber vice president who headed the tourism effort and served as interim chamber president for six months, said she has paid for the incorporation out of her own pocket and that nonprofit status had been obtained previously.

A closed session was held to discuss contract negotiations with the new entity's executive director, a position that Zenobia thought was offered to her in a previous meeting, but no action was taken following the session.

The mood of the room -- where Zenobia, who was turned down as the new chamber leader, sat across from Catherine Sutton, who was named the chamber's new executive director last month -- was tense. Jason Dowdy, general manager of Fairfield Inn & Suites in Christiansburg and chairman of the council, aptly described the feeling as a "divorce."

Tourism council members hope that forming a separate entity will persuade the localities to continue their contributions for a regional tourism effort.

Christiansburg Councilman Henry Showalter, the town's representative on the tourism council, said Christiansburg will continue to hold tourism funds until everything is finalized.

Showalter said it could take several months, and that the chamber would help the tourism council identify tasks that needed to take place to create the new organization.

"Christiansburg wants to continue funding tourism," he said after the meeting. "We feel there's a need for that."