FOLEY, Ala. — Those who have assumed that the Foley Convention & Visitors Bureau was a city department the past 12 years or so have assumed wrongly. Action taken by the mayor and city council on Monday, however, will, indeed, bring the CVB under the city’s governmental umbrella.

“I think for many years citizens have assumed we were a part of the city. It was a gray area,” said Kathy Danielson, for the past 10 years executive director of the CVB.

What the CVB has been for a dozen years or so is a non-profit agency under contract with the city. In that capacity, the CVB has done marketing and developed events for the city.

On Monday, however, the mayor and council approved a resolution that brings the CVB into the city as a permanent department.

Council members also suspended the rules to move for the immediate termination of the performance contract the city has had with the CVB since the latter’s inception.

With the actions taken on Monday, the CVB Board, which has typically included six to nine members, will cease to exist.

“We think it could be more efficiently managed and be more efficient, and the CVB Board agrees,” Mayor John Koniar said of the council’s action regarding the CVB.

His comments were made following following Monday’s council meeting.

“They will operate like any other city department. They will have to submit a budget every year. They will report to (City Administrator) Perry (Wilbourne) like every other department. Hopefully, it will be seamless,” Koniar said regarding the CVB’s transition into the city.

Danielson said the move to becoming a city department will allow the CVB to do more for the City of Foley while providing the CVB with more resources. And there is a practical aspect as well for the CVB’s three employees.

“We’re excited for one because we’ll have city benefits,” Danielson said.

According to Danielson, the CVB came into existence a dozen years ago when local hotel managers and owners came together to put a lodging tax in place to form the CVB to market the City of Foley. Back then, the city had about 400 hotel rooms, a figure that is closer to 600 today, Danielson said.

Danielson came to the executive director’s position from the Alabama Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce in Gulf Shores, where she worked on the Shrimp Festival for years and came to see what that event means to Gulf Shores and the Alabama Gulf Coast. When she came to the CVB, she wanted to create a tourism event that would have that kind of significance and impact for Foley. As it has turned out, that event is Heritage Harbor Days, an event that has drawn national attention.

“We’re going into it with an open mind and heart and wanting to do what’s best for Foley and Baldwin County,” Danielson said of the CVB becoming a city department.

“There is more accountability if we are a city department and the mayor and council will know and hopefully appreciate what we do.”

At present, plans are for the CVB to stay where it is, namely, on Laurel Avenue in the downtown section of the city.