SEQUIM — Fresh from a trip to France, City Councilman Ken Hays wants to tell more travelers about Sequim.

“We’re not pursuing the tourism potential nearly enough. I would like to see every possible avenue of bringing people to Sequim,” he said during Monday morning’s council study session.

He visited the famous Mont Saint Michel of Normandy last month. And even that place — which like Olympic National Park is a designated world heritage site — has “seen ups and downs,” Hays said.

At this point in Sequim’s history, a market study is needed, he said, adding that this place could be better promoted as a place to get away from the big city to shop and dine in a charming downtown.

Last week, the council, responding to Hays’ and member Erik Erichsen’s concerns, made plans to seek proposals for its $11,000 tourism coordinator contract.

Erichsen wanted to open bidding to companies besides Inside¬­Out Solutions, the Sequim firm that has held the contract for 10 years.

The problem was that InsideOut’s contract is due to expire Dec. 31. The request for proposals called for a new contract to begin March 1.

The council needed to decide whether and how to promote tourism in the intervening two months.

Month-to-month basis

During Monday’s study session, the council discussed keeping InsideOut Solutions owner Patricia McCauley on a month-to-month basis while looking at proposals — and then decided to do something else.

“I would extend her contract for a year,” said council member Paul McHugh, “and take 2009 to prepare a good [request for proposals], for a start date in 2010.”

At first Hays disagreed, saying he wanted to at least revise the contract to include promotion of more Sequim attractions such as the “boutique shops” he believes are better than those in urban malls.

McCauley stepped up to the podium to remind the council that “90 percent of [downtown] stores are closed Sunday.”

And when weekend travelers arrive here at 8:30 p.m. Fridays, she said, they find many restaurants close at 9 p.m.

Marketing Sequim month-to-month, McCauley added, isn’t conducive to planning.

“This is not a good year to change horses in midstream. The Hood Canal Bridge is coming down,” for an estimated six weeks starting May 1.

And, McCauley added, the economy already is down, and no one knows for how long.

“We’re going to be impacted pretty heavily on tourism,” she said.

With that, Hays came around. The council voted 6-0, with Erichsen not at the meeting, to extend the InsideOut contract for a year.

Sequim’s charms

A study of how to market Sequim’s charms, however, may be forthcoming.

Though the council didn’t talk about allocating more money for such a project, the members agreed that looking for ways to broaden the city’s appeal to tourists is a good idea.

“This isn’t a criticism of InsideOut,” Hays added. “This is a desire to see more done.

“You can never stop trying to promote what you have. That’s what this is about: always finding the better way to do the thing you’ve been doing.”

McCauley, who admitted later that she’s “not a big self-promoter,” said she was pleased to have another year to sing Sequim’s praises.

“Now I can plan,” she said.

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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.