Tourism board to fill vacancies amid turmoil

By John Labriola - Citrus County is seeking applicants for two openings on its Tourism Development Council (TDC) as the county's tourism office reels from scandal surrounding a suspended director and criticism over its promotion of LGBT tourism. 

One of the openings is designated for the owner or operator of a tourist accommodation in the county, while the other position is open to any resident who has demonstrated an interest in tourist development. Residents can download the application HERE and email it along with a resume to denise.gallagher@citrusbocc.com or mail or hand-deliver it to: Citrus County Administration, 3600 W. Sovereign Path, Suite 267, Lecanto, FL 34461. Applications will be accepted until July 26 at 5 p.m. TDC members, who are mostly appointed by the county commission, develop the county's tourism plan and make recommendations to the commission on how to spend hotel bed taxes. TDC meetings are held the second Wednesday of every month at 9 a.m. in the Lecanto Government Building. 

The vacancies were announced at last week's county commission meeting as commissioners reacted to revelations that Citrus County Tourism Bureau Director John Pricher may have colluded with Madden Media, the county's tourism marketing firm, to bill the county for a $50,000 manatee promotion campaign at Cincinnati Zoo that commissioners had rejected in March by a 3-2 vote. The commission voted 4-0 last week to not pay the bill after several commissioners expressed outrage over the unauthorized expenditure and apparent attempt to hide what the invoices were for by leaving the description line blank. Pricher was placed on administrative leave and is awaiting a hearing on his fate. County Administrator Steve Howard is recommending his dismissal.

The TDC has been the subject of controversy since early this year, when it unanimously approved Madden Media's plan to spend $55,000 on a "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" (DEI) campaign to attract more LGBT and less white, Christian, family-oriented tourism to Citrus County. The project died when the county commission declined to take action on the unpopular proposal.

The nine-member TDC has acted as a rubber stamp for far-left County Commissioner Holly Davis, who serves as the council's chairwoman and has supported virtually every project Madden Media has put forward, including the Cincinnati Zoo project and the DEI plan. Davis, who has made LGBT activism a centerpiece of her tenure on the commission, has aggressively backed efforts to attract LGBT visitors to Citrus County by spending $5,000 a year in tourist tax dollars to place ads in the LGBT travel publication OutCoast to promote Crystal River and surrounding areas to homosexuals and transgender-identifying individuals. Those efforts have brought the TDC negative attention in recent months as residents have begun showing up at meetings to complain about the board's embrace of woke politics under Davis' leadership. 

OutCoast's militant lesbian publisher Rachel Covello responded  at last week's TDC meeting by blasting critics of the county's advertising agreement with her publication. She also had harsh words for some TDC members who tried to express their support by saying what homosexuals do "behind closed doors" is none of their business.

"Here's the thing: What happens behind closed doors is possibly the key to unlocking equality, so maybe it SHOULD be everyone's business!" Covello barked. (SEE VIDEO HERE.)

Davis thanked Covello for her "courage" and pledged her continued unwavering support. She said Citrus County needs to keep spending hotel tax dollars to market itself as a homosexual destination to counteract the community-wide backlash against the library system's "LGBT Pride Month" displays. The displays, which Davis strongly supported, ended two years ago under intense pressure from residents opposed to the grooming of children with LGBT propaganda.

"That level of vitriol against that community proves we need to be out there in OutCoast magazine to say that we are welcoming and we are not against that population," Davis angrily declared.

The county's relationship with OutCoast is just one issue the TDC will have a chance to weigh in on once the board's two vacancies are filled. Another upcoming TDC agenda item will be whether to keep Madden Media when its contract comes up for renewal in the near future.

Given most commissioners' level of dissatisfaction with some of the TDC's recent decisions, the commission may be open to candidates who offer an independent, mindful approach rather than a willingness to serve as yes men and yes women for Holly Davis.