BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

MASSENA -- Reimbursement rates from the St. Lawrence County Chamber Of Commerce were called into question recently by Massena Sports-Fishing Promotion Director Don Meissner and town Grant Writer Linda McQuinn.

In her monthly report to the Massena Town Board, Meissner said he and McQuinn are winding down their attendance at sport fishing expos throughout the region after months on the road and running tournaments in Massena.

But reimbursement rates were questioned during McQuinn's report.

In her report, McQuinn said she and Meissner were informed by Chamber officials they did not seek chamber approval prior to attending the shows, leading to a disparity in reimbursements.

Prior approval is required due to limited funding, Chamber officials told North Country This Week.

McQuinn said she and Bookkeeper Brenda Mossow worked together on the reimbursement request for the county chamber, totaling up over $10,000 for the request.

“This was for five sports shows that covered the promotion of Massena and activities that went from January through the end of March. The total of that reimbursement was over $10,000,” she said.

McQuinn said she and Meissner were told to keep all receipts related to the shows so the town could be reimbursed for both fees, lodging and mileage.

“We were told upfront that we could not put in meals, which we did not and in fact we don’t bill the town for those. That’s something that Don pays for. We also didn’t put in for tolls because we do travel on interstate highways and there are tolls associated with that travel,” McQuinn said.

Despite keeping receipts, McQuinn said the town would only be reimbursed $2,000 for shows she and Meissner requested permission to attend.

“That sounds on the face of it as though the chamber is deciding how the town of Massena conducts its tourism efforts. In fact, what it exemplifies is a lack of understanding on the work that Don Meissner has done for these last 10 years because, when Don goes to sports shows, he does a great deal of collaboration and a great deal of interaction with people who can bring more opportunity to Massena,” McQuinn said.

McQuinn commented that the response to the request for reimbursement suggests "that perhaps the town of Massena doesn’t know what it’s doing with respect to sports show attendance."

She went on further, saying it was a "misguided approach" to wait for the chamber to tell the town of Massena how to promote its tourism.

She said the lack of reimbursement was "a sad state of affairs."

"But, unless we ask their permission, we won't be reimbursed in the future," McQuinn said.

Tiffani Amo, director of tourism for the Chamber, said limited funding for such ventures, like attending sporting shows, means the chamber must be careful in choosing where to spend the funds.

"The St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce’s tourism programming supports and promotes tourism efforts throughout the county. Attending trade shows in out-of-county markets is one of the many ways in which we promote our localized tourism assets to key visitor demographics. To best leverage our limited budget for this specific form of promotion, we have forged partnerships with local organizations, often volunteer-based, to provide supplemental financial support for their trade show attendance costs on the basis that they also promote county tourism assets alongside their specific initiative. This collaborative partnership ultimately enables the county, the chamber, and the organizations to more feasibly and effectively reach valued tourism markets," Amo said.

Amo said those limited funds are allocated to support a wide array of organizations and tourism assets throughout the county. She noted it is necessary for potential partners to submit budgets and obtain pre-approval before incurring costs for which they wish to seek supplemental reimbursement.

"This did not occur with the request being addressed here. Had budgets been submitted in advance, it would have been made expressly clear that the extent of those financial requests could not be met and would have far exceeded our overall promotional trade show budget. As a result of this misstep, there has been an unfortunate outcome regarding expectations versus deliverables, a discrepancy which we hope can now be avoided in future collaborations," she said in reference to the situation in Massena.

Amo said it was the belief of the Chamber that the town of Massena was doing "a great job promoting its tourism assets and developing a tourism economy," something the Chamber wished to recognize, encourage and continue to support in the future.

"As the designated tourism promotion agent for the county, we also understand the contribution of fishing to our local tourism economy, and we have continued to support fishing activities and tourism throughout the region, including by hosting the Bassmaster Elite Series in Waddington and the BASS Nation tournament in Ogdensburg most recently, alongside ongoing print and digital campaigns throughout New York State, surrounding states, and in Canada as well as other efforts in partnership with the Thousand Islands International Tourism Council and the Adirondack Regional Tourism Council. We are committed to pursuing tourism initiatives to support our local communities and to promote our many and varied assets with the limited resources available," Amo said.