The Park County Travel Council has agreed to fund marketing efforts by the East Yellowstone Valley Chamber of Commerce at $68,190. That was the full amount requested by the group of North Fork guest ranches and lodges and more than had been approved in previous years. However, the award comes with conditions attached.

The East Yellowstone chamber saw its funding from the council drop from $50,000 in 2023 to $43,650 last year to, initially, $31,350 for the current fiscal year. At a spring meeting, the council had decided not to fund the chamber’s marketing efforts, with the council taking over those efforts. The chamber had asked for $52,750.

However, the lodges and ranches objected to the cuts, culminating in a presentation they delivered at a Sept. 19 meeting. During that discussion, chamber representatives made the case that their marketing is effective and important to their businesses.

After taking no action on Sept. 19, council members reconvened at a special Monday morning meeting to reconsider the funding. In the end, a majority of the council chose to compromise and fund the chamber up to the full $68,190 amount requested, but with specific requirements on what types of marketing the additional $36,540 funds can be spent on. That includes graphic design, video editing and SEO efforts, along with website maintenance and more.

The funds also come with a requirement that the chamber, through its marketing firm 9 Cloud, agree to collaborate with the council and its marketing firm VERB.

“We’re not telling them exactly what to do with it, but we are putting guidelines and restrictions on it,” council Executive Director Ryan Hauck said.

Those guidelines, and the decision to fund the max allowed of $68,190, were hashed out amongst five of the
members after the official meeting ended.

The final vote caps months of debate between the two entities, at least for now.

Council members said part of the issue was that they felt the initial funding request did not go into enough detail on how the funds would be spent. At the packed Sept. 19 meeting, Jackson-based 9 Cloud CEO Mary Lynn Bradshaw, who handles marketing for the chamber, outlined the current marketing efforts and what could be done with more funding — including more visual storytelling, an expanded distribution strategy, targeted ad campaigns and mobile optimization.

In a Wednesday statement, East Yellowstone Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mike Christiansen expressed thanks for the travel council’s decision.

“It was amazing how many community members took notice and showed support when funding and the future of the East Yellowstone Valley Chamber of Commerce was in question,” Christiansen said. He said the chamber “is important to this community and its website is our Main Street.”

“Visitors need to know about this beautiful 50 mile stretch between Yellowstone and Cody and all its unique offerings before they arrive in the area,” Christiansen said.

At the previous meeting, both he and Bradshaw had expressed a willingness to work with Canadian company VERB’s marketing efforts. Christiansen said Wednesday that the chamber hopes to “move forward in the spirit of collaboration and cooperation” with the council.

Legal action against the press?

Prior to the discussion about funding for the chamber, Hauck expressed frustration with the Cody Enterprise’s coverage of the Sept. 19 meeting. Without detailing his concerns about the piece, Hauck charged that it included “slander or libel.” Slander applies to defamatory statements that are spoken while libel refers to written statements.

“There is legal action you could take,” he said, or they could reach out to the editor for an apology letter and/or a rewritten story.

“This is our fourth or fifth time they’ve put something out there that’s just pure wrong,” he said.

Board member and journalist Ruffin Prevost said he didn’t see any need for legal action, to which board member John Wetzel — whose wife is a part-owner of the Powell Tribune — agreed.

“You don’t overcome bad reporting by litigation, in my opinion,” Prevost said. “You overcome it with working with the reporter and trying to fix the record.”

Board members agreed to ask for a meeting between the editor, Hauck and a board member.

“There’s very little if any to be gained from any type of legal action, threats,” board member Quintin Blair said. “Our job is not to play political football, it’s to spend the lodging tax collections.”