Corbin Tourism Commission getting trio of new faces

 With no quorum present, the Corbin Tourism Commission was unable to conduct any formal business at its meeting Monday.

However, Board Member Betty Comer and Board Chair Suzy Rasmus announced it would be their final meeting as board members as their terms of service were expiring and they had not been reappointed.

"We were told by the mayor (Willard McBurney) that this would be our last meeting," Rasmus said.

Under state KRS regulations, the mayor can appoint two people of his own choosing as commission members. The remaining five members come from the South Corbin Hotel Association, the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the Corbin Restaurant. Each member serves a three-year term, though the terms are staggered so the entire commission is not up for appointment at one time.

When their respective seats are open, the hotel association, restaurant association or chamber of commerce submit a list of three finalists to the mayor to consider. The mayor chooses one name from the list list

Monday night, at the Corbin City Commission meeting, Burney announced that he was appointing Alan Onkst as the mayor’s appointment, Teresa Carpenter at the recommendation of the restaurant association and Tom Rose at the recommendation of the South Corbin Hotel Association.

"In the past, the mayor has appointed whoever wanted," McBurney said of the bylaws when Comer and Rasmus were appointed to the board in 2008. "Now there is a hotel association and restaurant association and I have to select from the list of candidates they submit."

McBurney said it was not meant a slight against either Comer or Rasmus, noting the strides the tourism commission has been making with projects such as "The Secret Recipe Garden."

"Good things have been happening thanks to the tourism commission," McBurney said.

I had asked around town and felt like it was better to get someone else," he said, adding that it is good to get bring some new people and new ideas to the commission.

Carpenter, Onkst and Rose will join Sadhir Patel, Tonya Marcum, Sherry Logan and Jackie Willis on the commission.

The commission will next meet at noon on April 11 at the Tourism Office at the old Corbin Railroad Depot. The meeting is open to the public.