‘Tourism, Teamwork, and Transparency’: Scott Turnmeyer Makes His Case in Happy Creek Race

Scott Turnmeyer says the clearest path to new revenue for Warren County is hiding in plain sight: visitors. “It is,” he said when asked if tourism is his favorite topic. “It seems like the most logical, easiest, quickest way to generate some revenue.”

Turnmeyer, an independent running for the Board of Supervisors in the Happy Creek District, said fresh state data show tourism spending is already inching up each year without much help. “We’re growing… by about 2% every single year,” he said. “Since 2018, our tourism has grown by almost 7%.” The problem, he argues, is that growth is unmanaged—showing up as traffic, not tax base.

Much of his pitch centers on marketing and coordination. He wants the town and county to act as one brand. “We are the only Front Royal in the entire world,” he said, noting online search demand favors “Front Royal” over “Warren County.” He supports allowing the town to handle day-to-day tourism marketing with joint oversight and a county funding formula tied to the transient occupancy tax. “Three of that 5% has to be reinvested into tourism.… As you grow tourism… You want your marketing to grow right back up.”

Turnmeyer says smart marketing must be paired with traffic and visitor management. He points to GPS routing that shunts leaf-season traffic onto neighborhood streets. “I’ve brought up the idea of putting speed tables… to slow the traffic… and push people out of that area and keep them on South Street.” He also wants better wayfinding to steer park visitors downtown: “We hide our Main Street… so we have to do a better job of signage, of marketing.”

Tourism, he stresses, is broader than leaf-peepers. “Anything that brings outside visitors into our area is considered tourism… a wedding venue, an airport, a conference at a hotel.” At the airport, he cited data showing a high share of visiting pilots and a hangar waitlist: “Let’s build hangars.”

Beyond tourism, Turnmeyer calls for financial safeguards after past scandals. “I’m a proponent of setting aside dollars… for two forensic audits every single year, one on an internal department and one on an external entity that gets tax dollars,” he said. “Anyone can pass a normal audit… Forensic audits… are digging through everything.” He argues the cost is worth the protection.

He also wants ongoing process improvement to free up time and money. “Technology has come so far… If I could hand you back two more hours every week, that gives you a chance to tackle that task list,” he said, adding that updates could “equate to roughly $2 to $4 million” in value.

On the library, he supports funding and dissolving the recently appointed board. “I’m for funding the library… The library is more than books,” he said, praising its computers, hotspots, trainings, and community role. He prefers the county to focus first on “clean up my house” through audits and process fixes, and then to “lead by example.”

Turnmeyer also urged town–county cooperation. “We have to get back together… using one brand, not trying to create two separate brands that compete with each other.” He pointed to Culpeper’s model, where the county funds the town’s marketing with oversight.

On recent board vacancies, he favors a practical path: “It serves us better to have someone in that seat so we don’t have two-two ties… I personally think Hugh Henry should come on in.”

Turnmeyer is running as an independent. “Most of the county is in the middle… I personally don’t think partisanship has any place in local government,” he said. His campaign style mirrors that view. He isn’t knocking on every door. “I’m doing live Q&As… meet and greets… Anyone can reach out to me anytime.”

As for how he would govern, he returned to a single word. “Compromise,” he said. “We’re not going to agree on everything… When we find that common ground, we’ve got to run down that common ground as fast and hard as we can.”

Early voting begins Sept. 19. Election Day is Nov. 4. Turnmeyer’s platform is at scottturnmeyer.com.