Former Warren County Tourism Director Alfred Snow, who resigned “effective immediately” after just nine weeks on the job, penned a letter to the county’s Human Resources Director Jackie Figuereo before leaving. In it, he outlines his grievances, especially regarding budgeting, the procedures the county followed to award contracts and the measures of effectiveness used to determine the return-on-investment for completed contracts.
Warren County Board of Supervisors Chair Kevin Geraghty said in a statement: “We thank Mr. Snow for his feedback about his tenure at Warren County, and we will closely review the suggestions that were made to determine whether improvements to our Tourism Department operations are warranted.”
Snow pulls no punches.
“I feel that I have been lied to since my first conversations with Warren County officials in May,” Snow writes early in the letter. He was interviewed after Joanne Conley retired in May, and was hired in August, with a Sept. 12, 2022 start date.
He says a number of times that it was his understanding that he would have more control over budgetary decisions and that he was stymied in a number of instances.
“I accepted this position based on the fact I was trusting the good faith discussions with representatives of Warren County, about being able to make immediate funding, department structure and marketing plan changes, based on my tourism industry experience,” he writes.
He says he was told that changes to the 2023 budget were impossible, and that maybe some of his changes could be implemented “in a year or two” he writes.
He saves his biggest complaints for money spent or considered for contracts with LakeGeorgeTV; Loud Media, which runs Lake George Radio; and the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce and CVB.
He says that the $300,000 awarded to LakeGeorgeTV would use tax dollars to create a privately held company under a “no bid” contract when other providers in the area could provide the same services.
“The proposal for Loud Media [the company that produces Lake George Radio]...does not have the broadcast strength to promote Warren County to potential visitors that will pay occupancy tax,” he writes, adding, “Visitors to the area will not turn into a set programming time for tourism-focused content.”
The county board, however, tabled the $24,000 proposed for Lake George Radio. The Lake George TV contract for $274,800 in 2023 was approved by the board, and signed in October, officials said.
And with the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce and CVB, he says the payments of $480,000 and $550,000 in 2021 and 2022 respectively resulted in a loss of $810,000.
His measure was to look at the amount of money spent on the LGRCC and the number of “definite room nights” produced by the money spent.
“I féel the decisions made to fund these projects are not based on sound business principles,” he writes. “I also oppose that despite the agreement to my recommendations and concerns regarding the financial implications of these programs, all my recommendations were ignored. When presenting my recommendations and concerns I was told to ‘just push this program through’ and advised to ‘just get it handled’ despite my objections.”
This is a developing story. We will have more next week.