The city and Chamber are intertwined and their future relationship will have a great impact on the Town Too Tough to Die.

The Chamber and city have an established record of success working together. The Chamber operates the city’s Visitor’s Center on Allen Street. It also manages the Boot Hill Cemetery gift shop, which it took over three years ago and transformed into a profitable entity.

Less than a year and half ago, the city backed a Chamber-negotiated deal to keep the state from closing the Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park and take over its day-to-day operations. In late August, Councilman Steve Troncale gushed over the park’s turnaround under the Chamber.

But the financial review and the expiration of the contract that gave city bed tax money to the Chamber coincided to help change the Chamber’s role as the major promoter of Tombstone as a tourist attraction.

After much discussion and research, mayor and council voted on Nov. 14 to establish a part-time promotions manager. The new manager will work in tandem with Chamber President Susan Wallace and City Clerk/Manager George Barnes to ensure that future marketing strategies make it from ideas and concepts to efficient implementation.

Barnes said he hopes to have a promotion manager hired by Jan. 1.

Councilmen Jim Doherty and Troncale researched the promotions manager position. Both pointed to the city of Bisbee and its promotions model as inspiration to create the position. While Wallace said creating the new position was not her first choice, the love she feels for her hometown keeps her passion to share its unique beauty and odd eccentricities with the world in any way she is able.

Wallace and David Bales were board members when former Executive Director Pat Greene, President Don Taylor and two other board members resigned. Rather than follow suit, Wallace and Bales decided to stay and assumed the roles of president and vice president. More recently, Wallace also took on the title of executive director. Unlike previous directors Elizabeth Ingalls and Greene, she will not be paid a salary.

Wallace said that in addition to working to resolve outstanding issues left over from the previous board, the new board has spent the year using available resources to continue working to promote the town, and heal the relationship between itself and the new mayor and council.

“We hit the ground running,” she said.

Both sides agree that the release of the audit and the adoption of H&M’s recommendations is a big step forward that shifts the focus to the future and increasing tourism.

Tombstone’s dominant industry is tourism, and the town’s future will be determined by its ability to overcome the bad economy and its geographical location outside of the I-10 corridor to draw a steady stream of curious tourists to the vintage American, world famous pueblo.

Should the city and the Chamber fail to work together to accomplish this, residents looking for a glimpse at the future need look no farther than the town of Fairbank, seven miles west on State Highway 82.  Fairbank flourished as a train depot until the early 1970s.