|
President Len gave our Guest Speaker, Kelly Haywood a brief introduction, recognizing her as a tireless advocate for the Huntsville community, previously in her role as Exec Director for the Chamber of Commerce and now as the Executive Director of the Huntsville Municipal Tax Association (HMATA)  Kelly gave us a bit of personal background. One of her first jobs was with Nortel in the sales/marketing area. She thought she had a career all set when the bottom fell out of the company. Following that she decided to follow her heart and relocate to little old Huntsville. She did various jobs including working at Rosseau College. Realizing that white collar jobs in a small Town were few and far between she took a maternity leave at the Huntsville Chamber. 19 years later she moved on to take up the challenges offered by the HMATA organization. Kelly was a leader in our community growing the Chamber and using the manpower and resources to present events well above what was expected of a small Town. HMATA is funded through the accommodation tax. Right as she came along to the job so did Covid. Rather than causing great grief in the local accommodation sector it was a boom time with people isolating in our area. This meant growing income for HMATA but no events on to invest in. Following Covid the group has invested in a number of area events, most notably the light show at Muskoka Heritage Place. Recently MHP has opted to unhost the light show amid concerns it took away from the basic premise of the heritage village. A new community partner, Sandhill Nursery has stepped in and it will be a bigger and better tourist draw including walking trails and a possible skating trail in winter. Another investment made by HMATA is the outdoor rink in River Mill Park. HMATA's focus is shoulder season events with aim to make Huntsville a 'year round' destination. Not limited to events, they will also fund conventions and meetings that bring overnight visitors to our area. They expect to be quite involved in the Ontario Senior Games coming to our area in 2026. The Board is made up of 4 members from the accommodation sector and reps from the BIA, Chamber and Town Council. Revenues collected are split on a 65/35 basis between HMATA and the Town. In response to a question about community involvement in their decision making, Kelly suggested there will likely be an advisory group established in the near future to provide such input. Given the growth in our community and increasing focus on tourism groups like HMATA under the operational care of Kelly will play a critical role in supporting new initiatives.
|
.png)
.png)
