Tags
Confederate Flag, South Walton, Walton Board of County Commissioners, Walton County, Walton Tourist Development Council
Imagine this scenario:
A citizen occupies a seat on Walton’s Board of County Commissioners. This citizen votes in 2020 to keep the Confederate flag flying over the Walton County Courthouse, in the name of protecting history.
This citizen, along with two other commissioners, continues the legacy of the previous board, which voted in 2015 to keep the Confederate flag flying over the same courthouse. Following the 2015 decision, the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce withdrew its future plans to hold conferences in Walton County, costing this area millions in tourism dollars.
Now imagine the same citizen occupies a seat on Walton’s Tourist Development Council; a board whose mission statement is to “…take a leadership role in addressing issues that affect tourism and the quality of life in Walton County.” (From page 1 of South Walton’s 2019-2021 Strategic Plan.)
That same strategic plan for that same organization also states a desire to “Continue to Enhance Efforts to Attract More Group Business to South Walton,” (From page 4 of South Walton’s 2019-2021 Strategic Plan) with a specific focus on positioning South Walton as a unique meeting experience.
So if you’re keeping score, the citizen voted to keep the flag, despite a knowledge that the decision has discouraged professional groups from traveling here in the past. And the same citizen serves on separate a board dedicated to convincing professional groups to travel here.
See the problem?
So here’s our question for the citizens of Walton County: Is this an acceptable scenario that a citizen serves with two separate organizations, despite the fact that the voting record with one of them actively undermines the mission of the other?
And here’s our question for the TDC: should it be concerned that one of its members recently cast a vote that will make the work of branding the county more difficult?
It’s an intriguing question, for sure.