UPDATED: CVB to meet Tuesday at Holiday Inn Express

UPDATE: Putnam County Attorney Jim Ensley has notified the Banner Graphic that the CVB will meet at 7 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express, 1017 N. Main St., Cloverdale.

The Putnam County Convention and Visitor Bureau Board of Directors, disbanded last month due to a number of legal issues, could be starting its new tenure with another problem.

The first meeting of the newly reformed CVB Board is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday. The question of where remains up in the air, however.

According to the annual notice of meetings sent to the Banner Graphic, the May meeting was to take place at the CVB office, 12 W. Washington St. As of 8 p.m. Monday, the events page of the CVB website (www.coveredbridgecountry.com/events) also listed the downtown office as the meeting venue.

However, a notice posted on the front door of the CVB office lists the Cloverdale Holiday Inn Express, 1017 N. Main St. (U.S. 231), as the meeting location.

Calls to the Holiday Inn Express and a CVB Board member yielded no further clarity on the matter. Due to the Memorial Day holiday, no one was available at the CVB office to answer the question.

Regardless of the ultimate location, the board could be starting its tenure with the question of a possible violation of the Indiana Open Door Law, as the notice at the location and the notice to the news media -- both required by law -- contradict one another.

Public notice of a change of meeting location needed to be made 48 hours (excluding Saturday, Sundays and holidays) before the meeting. With the three-day weekend, the deadline was 7 p.m. last Thursday.

This casts even more question marks over a meeting that will require reorganization of the board and perhaps the entire CVB operation.

All 11 CVB seats were vacated in April due to questions over the previous board's makeup. The problems, cited by Putnam County Attorney Jim Ensley, included more than a simple majority (six members) of one political party and the presence of only one innkeeper on the board. With funding from the CVB drawn from the innkeeper's tax, at least two of the 11 members need to be innkeepers.

With all 11 seats vacated, the three appointing bodies made new appointments earlier this month.

The Cloverdale Town Council appointed Rick Patel, Manoje Kantilal and Dianna Gorrell. Greencastle Mayor Sue Murray appointed Eric Wolfe, Gail Smith and Michelle Faison. The Putnam County Commissioners appointed Page Cotton, Tanya Mentgen, Donna Houser, Steve Greeson and Don Gedert.

With five independents, four Republicans and two Democrats, the board now meets the political party requirements. The presence of four innkeepers -- Patel, Kantilal, Faison and Mentgen -- also puts the board well within compliance on that front.

While Patel, Wolfe, Smith, Houser and Gedert are holdovers from the old board, the other six members will be asked to hit the ground running for the new board.

Among the first orders of business will be the election of officers. Former president Dick Wells and treasurer Allen Gibson were not reappointed. While former vice president Gedert and secretary Houser remain, their place among the officers is by no means guaranteed.

Questions about the location of the meeting are likely to be addressed on Tuesday. Check out www.bannergraphic.com for updates. Detailed coverage of the meeting will also follow later in the week.