By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Grayson Tourism Commission addressed a number of issues in their regular meeting last week, including finalizing the budget for the next fiscal year and accepting the resignation of Tourism Director Lana Axtell.
The commission began their meeting with discussion and approval of the treasurer’s report, and was informed by the treasurer that all the commission’s financials were ready for the next scheduled audit. The report included financials for the month of June, a comparison of previous months, and a snapshot of the same period for the previous year and a year-to-date report.
The commission did not fill the positions left open by the resignation of Daniel White and the decision of Deana Miller not to seek reappointment for her expiring term. Grayson Mayor Troy Combs informed the commission that the positions would be appointed soon, and also that the Grayson City Council discussed changing an ordinance and appointing Combs himself to the tourism commission. Combs told the commission they could expect him to be on the commission once that ordinance was established.
The July commission meeting was also the group’s annual meeting, and as per the commission’s bylaws they were required to elect officers for the upcoming fiscal year. In light of the upcoming change to the city ordinance, however, the commission voted to postpone said election of officers until the August 2026 regular meeting.
The main agenda item for the July commission meeting, though, was the budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. The commission was made aware of a large amount of historical research that went into making the budget. Budget items included capital projects and capital expenditures at $1.657 million, leaving a $32,000 surplus.
Tourism outreach budget revenue was projected at $72,960, an amount which is almost completely made up from the Transient Hotel Tax, which was less city collection fees and cabin rental. Expenses were reported as totaling $105,000, including advertising, marketing, and sponsorships, as well as fairs and events. The commission voted to approve the proposed budget and submit it to the City of Grayson for approval.
Mayor Combs congratulated the commission on all of their hard work, especially in the area of listing the commission’s current debt ratio versus proposed spending. Combs said the Grayson City Council appreciated the clear information and transparency.
In other business, the commission was informed that the Anne’s Corner project had moved forward to the stage where they had begun the process of requesting bids from contractors for the proposed construction. The request will be advertised as soon as the commission’s requirements and expectations are clearly defined.
Grayson Sports Park Manager Bert Bayes gave a report to the commission concerning activities at the park.
“We had one tournament this past week and ended up getting rained out on Sunday,” Bayes told the commission. “We did get to play Saturday, but the whole previous week we had the Little League District. We had enormous crowds. Everything seemed to go really well. They ended up playing the previous Sunday through Thursday, and we got a lot of compliments on the sports park.”
Bayes told the commission that the July 4 fireworks event was well attended, and went really well until the storm came in.
“It was almost at the time to set it off,” Bayes said. “But all in all, it went really well and was only about 45 minutes late.”
Bayes also said that only about eight percent of the show was lost due to the weather.
The tourism commission went into executive session before the meeting concluded, but when they returned to regular session stated that no action had been taken.
Once back in regular session, the commission did vote to accept the resignation of Grayson Tourism Director Lana Axtell. Axtell had submitted the resignation in June of 2026, with the intent for the resignation to be effective on November 1 of 2026.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
