Rob Appelman, former president of the Penticton Hospitality Association, has been conducting a very public email campaign, trying to get access to records of the organization.
Appelman stepped up his campaign by sending an open email to Mayor Andrew Jakubeit, asking that the city take action. His letter lists five points against the PHA executive, including the fact the PHA is facing two lawsuits in B.C. Supreme Court, which has already resulted in the court issuing a “garnishing order before judgement” in both cases, for a total of about $100,000.
Appelman’s key argument is that the PHA has stopped “external advertising initiatives that promote the community.”
“For the 36 of us that own hotels here, this is our livelihood, this is our retirement. I can’t afford to have no advertising going on, which Barb Haynes (current PHA president) has done right now,” said Appelman. “My sales are down from last year and I think it is going to be a terrible year. It has nothing to do with the economy, it has to do with the lack of advertising.”
Through a contract with the City of Penticton, the PHA controls funds generated by the two per cent additional hotel room tax (MRDT), which is intended for external tourism marketing of the city, and is in the range of $450,000 per year.
Appelman was terminated from the PHA board of directors in November. His termination, he said, was due in part to his efforts to access the association’s financial records, which has been ongoing since Sept. 2015. He explained that his email campaign was intended to make the entire membership of the PHA and the public aware of the situation.
“I am just trying to prove they are withholding this information,” he said, noting that the B.C. Societies Act states the records of a society must be open to the inspection of a director or member on reasonable notice.
Haynes refused to comment on Appelman’s allegations, but the organization’s secretary-treasurer, Barb Schneiderat did. The PHA later issued a press release supporting Schneiderat’s comments.
“We are doing our job. We have a website, everything that needs to be done, we are doing,” said Schneiderat. “The whole board is meeting to go over the grant applications and to finalize it by Friday. Money is being spent and it is being well spent.”
Schneiderat said there are 16 grant applications being considered, for amounts ranging from $1,000 to $60,000. However, the PHA does not appear to have a current website. The association’s internal website, thepentictonhospitalityassociation.com appears not to have been updated since 2014 and their tourism site, explorepenticton.com, appears not to have been updated since Sept. 2015, and still displays a “This is Autumn” theme. Responding to an email query, Haynes said the PHA has only recently gained access to that site.
Schneiderat also said there are ongoing discussions with Tourism Penticton about a possible merger of the two group’s interests.
“We are sitting down and having conversations with the city and Penticton tourism. I don’t know how people can say the PHA is not doing what they should do. We have a group that we are meeting with on Friday morning,” said Schneiderat. “We are making headway, we are making steps, we are doing what we should do.”
Jakubeit is hopeful the merger talks will be successful this time.
“It is frustrating that there seems to be some ongoing drama with respect to tourism in general. I am hopeful, as we work towards one voice, that actually can happen. We can really get back to focusing on making Penticton a premier destination,” said Jakubeit. “From our perspective, tourism is our foot in the door for people to realize that Penticton is an option to retire or move to start a business, all those sort of things.”
Jakubeit also said the city has no intention of involving itself in the current dispute, and is comfortable with the financial reporting and information they are receiving from the PHA.
“We are getting financial information on a quarterly basis this year, and they did come in and sit down with staff and lay out their plan for 2016 and what some of their expenditures for 2015 were,” said Jakubeit.
Schneiderat said the current board works well together and is representative of the diverse range of accommodations in Penticton.
“I have been on this board for many years and this year, we have a strong working board, it’s not one or two people making the decisions,” said Schneiderat. “We are pushing ahead. We are not letting the court action stall the marketing of tourism.”
Appelman said he is not giving up on his campaign, either.
“The next thing that comes is a letter from my lawyer,” he said.
In the release, Haynes stated that reporting of income from the additional hotel room tax usually lags about two months behind due to process by the province and the city before it is paid to the PHA.
“With this in mind, we are still waiting for the MRDT numbers to finalize for 2015 and will share that information with all of you as members once received. We anticipate having this information by mid-March 2016,” wrote Haynes.