Butler native comes home to spearhead development
By Burton Cole
FALMOUTH — The goal was to come home and help.
So Tami Vater accepted Pendleton County Fiscal Court’s offer to become the county’s full-time director of economic and tourism development. She started the job last week.
“This is my homecoming,” the 1983 Pendleton County High School graduate said.
“I’m proud to be given the opportunity to work at a place I love,” Vater said. “Pendleton County can be something of value and something to be proud of — not just because it’s my home community, but because it is.”
Vater’s job is two-fold, Judge Executive David Fields said.
On the economic development side, her role is to attract business to the county and to retain the ones that are here.
That will require aggressively seeking every possible grant to enhance what Pendleton can offer; to identify and develop locations ideal for industry; and make sure the businesses in place have no reason to pack up and leave.
On the tourism side, she becomes the full-time point person to promote the county as a place people want to visit — and spend their money in.
She’s not replacing the Tourism Council or the Tourism Commission, Fields said. Vater’s job is to enhance what’s already happening and build on that.
“We still have a great tourism council,” he said. “But they do it all volunteer.
“We don’t want the tourism council to dissolve by any means.
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