The Indiana Publisher

Page 4 August 2021 Staff reports Peru Tribune Kelly Miller assumed the role of publisher for Paxton Media Group's Central Indiana News Group on Aug. 2. The group consists of five papers including the Peru Tribune, The Herald-Press (Huntington), Wabash Plain Dealer, The Chronicle-Tribune (Marion) and The Times (Frankfort). Miller has been in the news business for more than 25 years, the majority of which have been spent with Paxton Media Group. She returns to Paxton after time spent at CNHI and later Gannet/Gatehouse and Wick Communications, with a background in the advertising side of the newspaper business. Miller said she was drawn to the position because she believes in "hyper-local" journalism, noting the importance of local news to keep the community informed and hold pub- lic officials and entities accountable. "I don't think you could remain in this field for over 25 years if you didn't believe in local journalism and the service it provides a com- munity," she said. "My goal is to grow out community involvement and our business. What we provide our advertisers is irreplaceable." Another goal of Miller's is for the newspaper to be a "light in the community," she said. "We need to be approachable and open to new ideas and growth opportuni- ties," Miller said. "I plan to grow the business with local events and marketing." Miller said the newspaper should also act as a leader in the community. "The newspaper lives by a code of ethics that many other types of businesses are not required to adhere to," she said. "We need to be the leader in public informa- tion. We need to be transparent and unbiased in our reporting." Miller said she is a huge sports fan, particularly of the Detroit Lions and Tigers. She is married to Donnie Miller, originally from Richmond, Indiana, and they have two dogs, Miguel Cabrera and Jose Iglesias. The Millers enjoy live music and motorcycles. Miller returns to Paxton Media Group as publisher Miller Editorial Board Herald Bulletin (Anderson) Bureaus promoting local tour- ism are all trying to get a share of the $13 billion spent (in non- COVID years) at destinations in Indiana. Tourism has been responsible for up to 5% of jobs in the state. With a local bureau in nearly every Hoosier county, nine regional associations and about 16 Indiana associations compete to tell us how to spend travel dollars. Most are funded through local food and beverage or innkeeper's taxes, charged to folks dining out or visitors staying at hotels. The tax receipts are typically funneled through county treasurers and distributed through county fiscal bodies. It should be simple, then, to follow the money — but it isn't. These bureaus are sometimes pro- tective of their financial successes or missteps. At this point, it might be informative to remind Madison County residents that one of the early intentions for the food and beverage tax was to build a civic center. The Herald Bulletin recently sought to track the path of the funding for the Anderson Madison County Visitors Bureau, which has offices off Interstate 69 at 6335 S. Scatterfield Road. The bureau, funded through the 5% innkeeper's tax, offers grants to groups trying to attract tour- ists. Boasting a staff of five, the local bureau is operated by a commission of residents. In response to The Herald Bulletin's request citing the Indiana Access to Public Records Act (APRA), the bureau at first denied the request, forcing the newspaper to seek an opinion from Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt. But bureau officials then rethought their response and provided information about the amount of tax money received and how those funds had been spent. Britt's response to The Herald Bulletin showed how varied and confusing the state's approach has been to public records and inn- keeper's taxes. The bureau, Britt opined, is not a public agency. That view matches that of the bureau's attorney, Ashley Hopper, who said we're dealing with two separate entities. Legally. The commission is a public agency when it comes to APRA. But the commission contracts with the Visitors Bureau, which spends funds. Therefore, the bureau is not required to be audited by the state because it technically is not a pub- lic agency. This also means that the bureau is not subject to the public records act. The apparent discrepancy is intentional. In a 2018 case, the public access counselor was asked to resolve a 9-year-old controversy over the public release of innkeeper's tax information for individual hotels in Jay County. Indiana statutes were too ambiguous, Britt found. The Indiana General Assembly should modify the statutes to clarify the public status of such tax information and should re-examine the process in administering inn- keeper's taxes. Issuance of funds should be a local decision based on tourism- promoting needs. That distribution has relied too much on the tax's source, coming in part from visitors just passing through who have little interest in where the tax is going. There should be public account- ability for tax-receiving intermedi- aries such as visitor's commissions as well as the recipients of those monies. As it stands, these mid-lev- el commissions are shields against transparency. Editorial: Local visitors bureaus should be accountable Looking for an employee? Post your open positions at www.hspa.com/jobs/post-a-job/ or email info to sgoldsby@hspa.com. Your job listing will appear online and in the Indiana Publisher's job listing. It should be simple, then, to follow the money — but it isn't. These bureaus are sometimes protective of their financial successes or missteps.

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