City ends agreement with Chamber for tourism activities

The Gonzales City Council ended the agreement with the Gonzales Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture to host the tourism department and Convention & Visitors Bureau — effective immediately — during their March 13 regular meeting.

Council members also agreed on the northeast corner of Texas Heroes Square as the inaugural site of a new downtown farmer’s market sponsored by Gonzales Main Street Board, to be held Saturday, April 12.

Tourism ties severed

Because the city collects local hotel occupancy taxes, it is required by law to use that money to promote tourism and the convention and hotel industry within Gonzales. In July 2024, the city and Chamber reached a publicity and tourism agreement that the Chamber would host all tourism-related duties as well as the Gonzales Visitor Information Center and provide the personnel needed to support this.

An additional tourism coordinator position was created with one coordinator tasked with focusing on bicentennial and heritage tourism and the other to promote events within the community as well as agritourism. The city was to pay $15,250 per month and the Chamber had received eight months of funding ($122,000 total) as of Feb. 28.

In a letter to City Manager Tim Crow, Chamber President Lawren Kridler had asked the city to increase the budgeted amount to $208,000 per fiscal year — about $18,909 per month — which is what the Chamber had originally requested when the first agreement was proposed.

The $183,000 per fiscal year agreement was in kept in place for 2024-25 and Kridler noted the Chamber was sharing interim executive director Susan Sankey with the Gonzales Economic Development Corporation in 2024. Since then, the Chamber hired its own full-time, Chamber-exclusive executive director. Kridler said the Chamber would continue to operate the Visitors Center and employ a tourism coordinator even if the second position is moved back under the city. She noted the Chamber had signed marketing contracts for the remainder of fiscal year 2025 which took the $15,250 monthly funding into consideration.

Crow had negotiated a new amended agreement with the Chamber that called on the organization to provide updated proof of their IRS 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) status and a financial audit within six months — something Chamber Board member Allison Davis said is already in the works.

Main Street Director Tiffany Hutchison-Padilla and Sankey also would have been required to be on the interview team for the tourism coordinator positions whenever there was a need to hire a new person and the city would be listed as employer of record. The March monthly payment would have been due March 18 with the city contracted to pay a total of seven months funding — $106,750 — to the Chamber.

District 4 Councilmember Ronda Miller instead made a motion to reject the amended agreement and instead move both tourism positions as well as the Convention & Visitors Bureau — and all related funding — back to the city effective immediately.

“Basically, we're moving the tourism back to the city where it was originally. Of course, all the funding comes with that, because it's HOT tax funds, so it has to come,” Miller said.

Miller also moved to “start the process of establishing the Convention & Visitors Bureau in the Riverside Center (formerly Riverside School) as I have been informed the city is prepared to house the two staff members, and the staff members are not opposed to this change.”

“There's been quite a bit of talk about Riverside Center as the site for the Convention & Visitors Bureau and it's my understanding that staff and other groups involved with tourism like that idea,” she added. “We’ve been talking about it for six months and it’s time to make a move.”

Crow said city staff was prepared to bring tourism “back under the umbrella of the city. We will then get the Riverside building fixed and repaired.”
“We’re prepared to handle this either way and it’s just up to the pleasure of the council,” Crow said.

Mayor Steve Sucher, Miller, District 2 Councilmember Mariah Jordan and District 3 Councilmember Lorenzo Hernandez voted for the motion. District 1 Councilmember Joseph “Poochy” Kridler was not present due to an impending medical procedure.

Downtown farmer’s market

Main Street had requested to use the 300 block of St. George Street to host a farmer’s market from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 12, and then again every Saturday in June and on Saturday, Sept. 20. The market would also be open to makers and artisans to sell their wares as Main Street envisioned the event bringing more foot traffic to the downtown area. That date is also when the Master Gardeners holds their big spring sale, which will take place in Independence Square. While some business and property owners expressed their support for closing the street those days, others were concerned it could impact their operations and take away parking for their businesses.

Other locations considered included the north parking lot of Robert Lee Brothers Jr. Library; Market Square; the south parking area of Texas Heroes Square; and the Courthouse East parking lot.

Hutchison-Padilla said while Main Street’s first request was to still use the 300 block of St. George, their secondary choice was to use the sidewalk in the northeast corner of Texas Heroes Square because the site was close enough to their target location and would not require any street closures.

“The mission and vision of Main Street is to bring exposure to our downtown businesses, and by hosting it other places, such as over at Market Square, it doesn't bring people from the bypass all the way into town,” Hutchison-Padilla said.

Hutchison-Padilla was asked if the event could be held on St. George Street without closing it by utilizing sidewalks. She said the idea of the market was not to block the view or doorways of existing businesses, but to bring in foot traffic that would come by their doors. The market had already outgrown a proposed site in a courtyard area on Saint George.

She added that using the grassy area of Independence Square would be possibly a good choice moving forward in June when the area isn’t being used by anyone else.

Council members decided 4-0 to use the sidewalk in Texas Heroes Square for April 12 and to revisit the site location for future dates.