This week the four candidates for Town Council discuss the importance of tourism. The questions they are addressing are as follows:

What would you propose to upgrade the town’s tourism promotion efforts?

The Fountain adds to the ambience of the town – should the town and Sanitary District expand efforts to maintain the water quality of the lake and consider other ideas for making it more of an attraction?

Henry Leger: In early 2014 the town established an in-house tourism program. Within a short time, staff established a comprehensive marketing strategy including an updated tourism website (www.ExperienceFountainHills.org). The program employs social media including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for marketing town events, restaurants, hotels and amenities. Analysis of the use of this technology has been positive. Other marketing strategies include posting events calendars, hardcopy advertising and networking with regional tourism partners.

Recently, I recommended creating a more prominent presence for tourism on the town’s website. A link to our tourism website has been added and is now available on the town’s home page. I believe we can further expand the use of digital media. Additionally, we need to take a look at the possibility of future funding to increase the tourism specialist position from three quarter time to full time.

Fountain Park is a centerpiece for our town. It attracts tourists from all over the world and it is a favorite amenity for residents. The lake has experienced issues with algae and unpleasant odors, particularly during the summer months, caused in part by lack of water circulation and aeration. The town is currently exploring a system to add aerators and mixers to address these issues. The Sanitary District and other water quality experts have been involved in these discussions. Funding for lake water quality improvements is included in the FY14/15 budget.

Park improvements are scheduled for completion this fiscal year. These include adding lighting for sidewalks and the amphitheater area, renovating the east parking lot and adding new signage. I believe these improvements will enhance park aesthetics and usability for residents, tourists, and special events. As funds become available, we could consider running the Fountain at maximum height for special occasions. Properly publicized, this would be a draw for tourists and residents.

Alan Magazine: Tourism should be a major component of Fountain Hills’ efforts to increase economic development. The more citizens of the Valley and state who see and experience the wonderful assets of our town, the more people who will populate our businesses, thus resulting in increased tax revenues.

How to make this a reality? At present, the town doesn’t have a public affairs professional because of budget constraints. As a result, there is very little coverage in The Arizona Republic, TV and radio. I believe that we could find an individual in the community to fill the void on a part-time basis. This should be a high priority.

We have many opportunities to bring tourists to Fountain Hills, e.g, recent 4th of July celebration, the art fairs, Ballet under the Stars, Thursday Farmer’s Market, St. Patrick’s Day celebration, and we have a trail system that is the envy of many communities. The Fountain has been the primary attraction in Fountain Hills since its founding. We must make every effort to maintain or improve the water quality of the lake. And, if affordable, the Fountain should run continuously during the day and early evening.

The recent 40-year retrospective in the Fountain Hills Times indicated that many years ago some nationally-known celebrities like Arthur Fiedler and Count Basie performed here and drew audiences of 20,000-30,000 people. With corporate sponsorships and other donations perhaps we could periodically have similar performances.

Many of us are here because we accidentally stumbled on this amazing town (this writer and his wife included) and decided to live here. We need to increase the population of Fountain Hills so as to support our tax base, get more young people into our schools and increase patrons for our businesses.

Lina Bellenir: The Fountain is more than ambience, it represents who we are and what we stand for.

As our centerpiece, visitors used to flock to see it. The developer of Fountain Hills constructed the Fountain and surrounding lake to create a thematic centerpiece for a community designed for beauty throughout. Since the Fountain first went into operation in 1971 it has been visited by thousands of people.

The Fountain is the primary attraction at the park. It draws visitors to the other amenities that make Fountain Park the heart of our community. Why has previous town management allowed our greatest feature to be marginalized?

To reach its maximum height requires all three pumps operating and 1.3 million watts of electrical power. Even at two pumps requires 900,000 watts. Technology has advanced to the point that our Fountain can run more frequently at a substantially lower rate.

The water quality is not good because there are not enough aerators in the lake. If the Fountain were on more often it would improve. We would save wear and tear on equipment if soft starters were used. Soft starters would turn on slowly and build up slowly -- so no expensive surges.

The system is old so preparations must be put in place for that possibility.

The town went through good faith negotiations to establish an IGA with the Sanitary District at their request. The town was waiting for the final review when the Sanitary District notified the town that they had changed their minds.

There is no need to reinvent ourselves, or “introduce ourselves to the Valley” as other candidates have stated. We have our centerpiece and it is the Fountain; we simply must upgrade it to more modern technology and allow it to run more often, and the visitors will start flocking back.

Nick DePorter: I would like to see more formal and collaborative partnerships between the town, Scottsdale, Ft. McDowell, Rio Verde, Chamber of Commerce, Greater Fountain Hills Business Alliance and all service organizations to work towards our common goals. Let’s harness the resources of these groups to get more exposure for our community as a tourist destination. Working together allows us to pool resources and is mutually beneficial to our communities.

Increasing tourism in Fountain Hills through events and attractions contributes to our economic vitality. The events we hold are quite successful and a great way to invite people to enjoy our community. Our businesses flourish and our service organizations benefit at awesome hometown events like the Great Fair, Oktoberfest and so many more. These events have a wonderful “halo effect” as they allow visitors a glimpse of our community that they may want to live in or open a business in someday.

If elected, I will provide collaborative leadership and a proven record of successfully creating public-private partnerships and developing relationships which will benefit our town. I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work on this and all the important issues that face our community.

The Fountain is our namesake and adds so much character to our great community. The town and Sanitary District should always be exploring opportunities to improve water quality and consider all ideas to capitalize on this great asset. We can work with our partners to think outside of the box and develop new lines of revenue to help fund increased usage of the Fountain as the centerpiece of our community.

We have great amenities at the park, the Rotary Splash pad, walking trail, public art and the Plaza Fountainside. Let’s look at the success of places like the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park and come up with ideas that will fit best in our community.