Tombstone officials and the Chamber of Commerce have reached a preliminary agreement to hire an outside firm as part of a new strategy to promote the town.

City Clerk/Manager George Barnes said the mayor and council would likely vote on the preliminary agreement at the Oct. 11 meeting.

“Our interactions have been very productive,” he said. “I think people will be surprised by the aggressive yet realistic activities between the city and chamber to promote Tombstone.”

If the plan is approved, Councilman Steve Troncale said the city would use bed tax monies to hire a part-time promotion manager who, like Bisbee Visitor Center Director Ilona Somerekanich, would develop and implement an annual promotion strategy.

“We still want our chamber to be a major player, (in city promotion)” he said. “We want shared responsibility.”

Troncale said the agreement would also create a “super committee” of four people: himself, Chamber President Susan Wallace, Vice President Dave Bales and the promotions manager.

Wallace echoed Barnes’ enthusiasm.

“We (the chamber) are all of the mind that it is a good and positive strategy,” she said. “I believe support will be there for this.”

While approval of the deal would divert bed tax monies from the chamber to the promotion manager, Barnes said the chamber will continue to receive Boothill Graveyard gift shop monies.

“We have to be locked and loaded pretty quick,” he said. “We’re coming in to busy season.”

Wallace said the chamber will finance a two-pronged marketing strategy aimed to boost tourism during the last quarter of 2011.  She said new advertising campaigns on Channel 4 KVOA and Cochise County’s three Cherry Creek radio stations will reach up 500,000 consumers, and “put Tombstone at the front of peoples’ vacationing plans” for Helldorado Days, the 130th anniversary of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, as well as the third annual Wild West Days and the Western Music Festival.

“I think we are all on the same page about promoting Tombstone and drawing people to town,” she said.

There is also an “expectation,” said Barnes, the agreement would allow the chamber to use 10 percent of the profits from the Cochise County Historic Courthouse to promote the landmark as a tourist destination. By law, profits from the historic site can only be used for its maintenance and promotion.

“If you’re advertising the courthouse,“ he said, “you’re advertising Tombstone.”