I have heard many comments from people agreeing with Phyliss Kern’s letter of a couple of weeks ago, questioning why the town gives money to the Chamber of Commerce (under the guise of tourism).

The chamber was the largest recipient of town grant money ($103,000), most of which apparently paid the contract salary of the director of the Chamber Visitors Bureau, who has now resigned. When I’ve questioned what we got for the money, the main thing I’ve heard is that the chamber has a tourism website. So what -- the town already has a website.

It seems totally backwards to me -- the chamber should be supporting the town, not the other way around.

In the 14 years we’ve lived here, we have heard many people questioning the large salary paid to the Chamber CEO and other large salaries. There has never been any accounting for how the Chamber spends its money, and business owners have left because of it, some even forming a separate group to support businesses. It would seem that Fort McDowell realized they weren’t getting their money’s worth.

I have also questioned why our current mayor is allowed to vote on handing town money over to the chamber. She is a past chairperson of the chamber and has been a chamber “advocate of the year” and is apparently still advocating for the chamber with the town’s money! For $103,000 the town could hire its own tourism director, and that person would report directly to the council. Or simply include the tourism money with the other economic development money so there is no duplication of efforts. I hope the town follows the lead of Ft. McDowell and uses our grant money more wisely.