Dec. 13—Two members of the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority have stepped down from the board after exiting the tourism industry, opening up two seats for new appointments.

Lauri SoJouner has stepped down from the TDA after leaving her role as the director of Lake Logan Conference Center. Colleen Davis has stepped down after selling her downtown Waynesville business, The Jeweler's Workbench.

County commissioners will appoint two replacements to the TDA, which oversees almost $3 million annually in room tax revenue.

Three more tourism board seats are technically up for appointment, as well. The TDA board asked county commissioners to forgo an open application process for those three seats, however, and instead re-up the three sitting members.

For starters, they are "really good board members," said Tourism Director Lynn Collins.

But also, none of them have gotten to serve a full three-year term yet. They were all appointed to fill vacancies, and it would be a waste to lose them now that they have gotten past the learning curve, Collins said.

"Board members say it normally it takes them a year to figure out what's going on," Collins said. "It's an investment. There is a tremendous amount of knowledge that goes into serving on the tourism board, and a lot of time and effort goes into educating new board members."

The TDA board voted unanimously last month to ask county commissioners to re-up the appointments of the following three members:

—Jeff Hillis of Buffalo Creek Vacations.

—Mike Huber of Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center.

—Shelley White of Haywood Community College.

Each of the 12 seats on the tourism board represent specific sectors of the tourism industry. The two vacancies were for seats representing:

—an accommodation with 20 units or less.

—a tourism-related business.

For information about applying for the vacancies, contact the County Manager's Office at 828-452-6625 or [email protected].