Greene new FMPC member
Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen appointed a new member to Farragut Municipal Planning Commission and approved unanimously a charter establishing a tourism committee during its meeting Thursday, Sept. 13.
Jon Greene, a resident of Orchard Grove subdivision off Watt Road, replaced Commissioner Drew Carson, who resigned last spring.
“Recently, we lost a Planning Commissioner because he moved, and that left us with an open seat,” Mayor Ron Williams said as he appointed Greene to take Carson’s place.
“We welcome Jon to our Planning Commission,” Williams added.
“Thank you for your vote of confidence,” Greene said. “I’ll give it my best shot and try to be an active member of the Planning Commission team and do my best.”
Greene’s interest in Town government started when he attended a public meeting March 8 concerning Anchor Park. At that time, he said he thought he was attending a meeting on the Watt Road/Kingston Pike corridor, which was March 21, but after arriving at the earlier meeting, he decided to stick around.
Since that time, Greene has attended many other Town meetings and currently is participating in the Introduction to Farragut class. Greene said Williams got to know him at those meetings and learned of Greene’s engineering background.
On another matter, the Board approved a charter for its new Tourism/Visitor Advisory Committee, created to “advise and assist elected officials and staff with tourism initiatives,” Farragut Tourism coordinator Karen Tindal said.
The members will be appointed at the Oct. 11 Board meeting.
The committee will be made up of nine members — one Board member, as well as a representative from lodging, attractions, restaurants, retail, residents and a youth member.
Each committee member will have two-year terms, with the first year staggering, and the committee will meet six times a year with the possibility of additional called meetings, Tindal said.
The board originally was called “tourism committee” but Vice Mayor Louise Povlin made the motion to change it to “Tourism/Visitor Advisory Committee.”
“Because residents hear tourism, they think we are trying to become a Dollywood-type tourism destination, and that’s not what we’re trying to do,” she said.
Povlin explained the committee simply is trying to bring together businesses that would draw in visitors to Farragut.
She also made the motion to reduce the number of members to nine.
“I would like to dial back,” she said. “I think 11 members are too many. We are currently seeing in other committees where there are so many members that nobody really steps up,” Povlin said.
“The key here is to have four members of tourism — someone in lodging, somebody with a type of attraction and definitely a restaurant and retail,” Williams said. “Then four at-large would make it an even number, and you are breaking tie, if there was one, with an alderman.”
Interested individuals still can apply in Town Hall for seats on Farragut Tourism/Visitor Advisory Committee. They also can go online to apply at townoffarragut.org/tourism.
Application deadline is Friday, Sept. 28.
“We launched the Visit Farragut website,” Tindal said. “We have contracted for some state and regional advertising; we’ve held informational meetings with Farragut hotels and connected with Farragut businesses; and we have been involved in research and planning of the (tourism) program.”
