Angelica Ramos
Contributing Writer
MONTGOMERY COUNTY- During the Dec. 16, 2024 Board of Supervisors meeting, the board voted on a resolution to schedule a public hearing on an ordinance proposal for a joint tourism project between Montgomery County, the Town of Blacksburg and the Town of Christiansburg.
Christopher Lawerence, current Deputy County Administrator and Interim Director of Tourism, presented the proposed ordinance regarding a joint tourism program for Montgomery County to the Board of Supervisors. Lawrence also provided tourism office updates following his interim appointment after former Director of Regional Tourism David Rotenizer retired.
“So,” Lawrence said, “our tourism program is an agreement. It’s a partnership between three parties: the county, the Town of Christiansburg and the town of Blacksburg and we have a written agreement that started back in 2011. It expired basically about a year and a half ago and we have just operated under those premises, until we now have a kind of new agreement that’s been revised and our tourism operating board has recommended the agreement to all the elected bodies um so that’s ultimately where we are”
His updates to the board included discussion of procuring grants for tourism, advertising and marketing strategies and wins for the county, like local TV ads, and Amtrak coming to Montgomery County in 2027. They have also gotten Montgomery County featured in travel magazines and even NRV brochures that are housed in the Virginia State welcome centers where tourists may read about what Montgomery County and the New River Valley has to offer and maybe pay the area a visit.
Lawrence explained that during this interim period, they are focused on ensuring stability and accountability in the tourism office, addressing concerns of key partners, like the towns, and updating all digital platforms and communication to best ensure connections to Montgomery County’s assets like outdoor recreation, connections to local businesses and information accuracy.
Lawrence’s presentation was not just to update the Board of Supervisors on what has happened, is happening and will happen with tourism, but to have them agree to hold a public hearing on an ordinance which would approve an agreement between Montgomery County and the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg to create and enter into a joint tourism program with the hopes it would benefit all joining parties. The Board of Supervisors voted in unanimous approval to agree to a public hearing regarding this issue. That public hearing will be held Jan. 13, 2025.
The resolution of their vote reads, “Be it resolved, by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Montgomery, Virginia that the Board of Supervisors hereby agrees to schedule a public hearing for Monday January 13, 2025, at 7:15 p.m., or as soon thereafter, in the Board Chambers of the Montgomery County Government Center, 755 Roanoke Street, Christiansburg, Virginia for the purpose of receiving comments on the proposed Ordinance approving the 2025 Organizational Cooperative Agreement Between Montgomery County and the Towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg for the Creation and Implementation of the Joint Tourism Program.”
