Actually, I don’t mean to call Papa Doc Dalton a liar. What I mean to call him is a goddamned liar. According to the Wytheville Enterprise, the following is what Dalton had to say about the hiring of Gary Cody to be the Director of Parks and Recreation and Tourism:
According to Wythe County Administrator Cellell Dalton, Cody’s expertise in tourism promotion attracted attention from the Board of Supervisors. Also, the county will focus on recreational programs for adults.
“We’re looking at progressively promoting Wythe County,” Dalton said. “The department of parks and recreation has dabbled in tourism since 1993. The board wants the new director to look at ways we can promote the county.”
Whereas Mr. Cody has an undergraduate degree (something Dalton himself doesn’t have) from Radford University in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, he has no practical experience in tourism. Mr. Cody was Director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Martinsville. Martinsville has a separate Director of Tourism by the name of Jennifer Doss, so I’m really interested in knowing exactly what Mr. Cody’s “expertise in tourism promotion” Dalton is talking about.
The arrogance of this man really pisses me off. Wythe County has never had a Department of Parks and Recreation and Tourism. The Department has always been Parks and Recreation. Dalton added the and Tourism after a local businessman asked how the $811,146.60 in lodging tax that the State of Virginia requires to be spent on tourism was actually spent. Tourism is not an afterthought. It is a very specialized field. These are the requirements for the job of Director of Tourism for the town of Abingdon:
MINIMUM TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
Bachelor’s degree in marketing, public relations, or a closely related field, and 5 to 7 years experience in marketing or public relations work; or any combination of training and experience which provides the required skills, knowledge and abilities.
The full job description can be found here.
Randolph County, NC, has the following requirements:
MINIMUM EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
Must have Bachelor’s Degree in tourism, public relations, marketing or related field; and/or destination marketing organization specialized program degree in marketing, hospitality management, public relations or related field, with a minimum of two years experience in the travel and tourism industry; or a minimum of five years experience working in the travel and tourism industry with demonstrated ability to perform the skill set as defined by the Director of Tourism job description.
The full job description can be found here.
It has reached the point that if Dalton told me it was raining, I’d have to stand outside and get soaking wet before I’d believe him.
I don’t cherish the thought of removing some decent people from the Board, I have known Bucky for years… but it doesn’t seem like they are listening to us at all… It really is simple, just GET RID OF DALTON! I’m not sure what magical powers Dalton possesses, but he sure does have a spell on the members of the board!
Drew
Response for Drew:
Have you been at any BOS meeting in the last year? When there, if anyone asks a ?, ALL HEADS turn to Dalton!!! ALL EYES FOLLOW DALTON!!! Blank stares!!! To date-since Feb 2011- I have NOT received an answer to a ? from a board member at a meeting & that’s 7 (seven) people.
I’m going to start wearing a stethoscope just to check if ANY OF THEM ARE BREATHING!!!!!!
At OVER $16,000 EACH A YEAR, I think we deserve better.
And since our 2 new employees have MORE credentials than Dalton-?. Might one of them be in line for the future Admistrator when Dalton retires??????
Yeah…I am with that GET RID OF DALTON…hope we do not have to wait till he decides to retire…don’t think there will be much $ left when he gets out. Some of the things I have seen him do leans towards.. really illegal, EXTORTION comes to mind. Looks like we need to thin more of the supervisors out of there and start all over .. beginning with Dalton. Yes his lack of education is apalling ….I just love that little walking track around the college that no one is ever on…guess that project cost the bucks…is that what they are spending the water line money they stole from all these people they so did decieve with the ansers to none of our questions about what was going on …so practiced in lies…vote ‘em out!
As to the WCC walking track, that was a WCC project, a pet project of the WCC president. The county DID NOT participate in or fund this track. Better get your facts straight before attacking.
I, for one, am pleased with how the county operates. Just take a look at our low county taxes. Check out the tax rates of surrounding counties and you will find that Wythe county rates are the lowest in SW VA, and the services offered by the county are as good or better than surrounding counties.
These false charges of illegal activity are wrong and maybe illegal themselves. Get your facts right before you start blasting people, makes you look kind of dumb in my opinion.