CLEARFIELD – The first meeting of the Clearfield County Recreation and Tourism Authority kicked off yesterday with confirmation of the decision made last month to retain the officers with Terri Cunkle as chairwoman, Susan Williams as vice chairwoman and Bonnie Robinson Harper as secretary/treasurer.
Meetings will continue to be held the second Wednesday of each month at 8:30 a.m. Andrew Gates was retained as solicitor.
A one-hour executive session regarding legal matters was also held at the regular meeting with no action taken afterward.
The board heard an update from Director Josiah Jones who said the new Geotour for the county will be launched Feb. 3.
He said the Geocache team has been working hard to get information on the five trails together for the nationwide launch.
The Web site has also had a “soft launch,” though Jones said it is not complete and a great deal of work still needs to be done. One item being worked on is called iMap.
He said it will allow people to create their own itineraries and he has visited other Web sites designed by Lunar Cow that use iMap 2.0 and has been impressed with the technology.
VisitClearfieldCounty.org will have iMap 3.0. “It will really be amazing,” Jones added. He and assistant director Sue Swales-Vitullo will be undergoing training next week on how to update the Web site.
Jones also announced that the new travel planners are completed and a copy for review should be arriving at the offices this week.
The current plan is to have the planners available for distribution in early February. The online version of the travel planner will be interactive, Jones noted.
A writer for Mid-Atlantic Day blog will be visiting the area at the end of January for two or three days with the main goal of attending Winterfest at Parker Dam.
Jones said the tourism staff will also be taking her to various other sites around the county and there is already some discussion of her returning in the fall.
Under old business, the board discussed the partners committee and decided to dissolve the committee. The reasons included the fact that the nearly 370 partners can get information and help in real time by directly contacting the office or board members.
The board reminds partners that any member of the staff or board is open to any form of communication at any time and partners are encouraged to attend board meetings as members of the public and interact with the board and staff.
The board also noted that in 2017 six grant applications were denied for various reasons. The main reason was that those requesting the grants did not conform with the new Act 18 guidelines.
A few also didn’t get paperwork into the office in time. The latest grant round due date is at the end of March.
During the good of the order, board member David King noted that Doolittle’s in DuBois has created two special dining experiences.
One of the train cars used by the restaurant has been specially designed to accommodate families with autistic members. Another is being designed to help families with family members suffering dementia.
King noted that this is something Doolittle’s is leading the way in and praised the restaurant for its work to accommodate a variety of consumers.
