One month after its creation, the City of Tomball has appointed members to its newly-established Tourism Advisory Committee.

The committee, designed to help the city better utilize its hotel/motel tax occupancy dollars, will be staffed by three city residents, three representatives from local businesses and three owners or managers from Tomball hotels or motels.

Tomball Mayor Gretchen Fagan assembled a list of prospective board members, which was then unanimously approved by the city council at a Dec. 6 meeting.

The board members representing city residents are Ken Schuman, Mary Harvey and Jeffie Cappedonna; from the business community Holly Cook, Beverly Leday and Rodney Hutson; and from Tomball hotel/motels Kevin Lala of America’s Best Value Inn of Tomball, Lamar Barr of Hampton Inn and Ronald Tucci of La Quinta Inn and Suites.

Each position within each category will hold either a one, two or three-year staggered term. Fagan’s recommendation for which member held which term length, which was also approved by council, was based on the number of years the business or resident had been established, operating or lived in the city.

Serving one-year terms will be Shuman, Cook and Lala; two-year term members are Harvey, Leday and Barr; and three-year terms were appointed to Cappadonna, Hutson and Tocci.

Harvey had served on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, but resigned from that board in order to serve on the Tourism Advisory Committee.

The purpose of the committee will be to review applications from groups and individuals wishing to obtain grant money from the City of Tomball that the City retains from a tax on hotel/motel bills.

The funds collected by the city must be used to promote tourism, or bring visitors to the city from outside the Tomball area.

The board will be advisory in nature only, with final approval for the allocation of grant funds to come from the city council.

City Manager George Shackelford previously told the Tribune that the city receives about six or seven applications for grant money per year. Last year, the city allocated more than $143,000 in Hotel Occupancy Tax money to applicants.

The Hotel Occupancy Tax adds 7 percent tax to the cost of a stay in a Tomball hotel. The tax was created in 2003.

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