Services

Grover Tourism Development Authority (TDA)

We provide published notice of our regular meetings held four times per year via our regular website, paid advertising campaigns, Facebook site and public body notice posting in plain view of public passerby on the town hall bulletin board to be at 6 pm held the last Tuesday of every quarter (March, June, September, December) at the Grover Town Hall with a backup default of Carolina Crossing Restaurant.  Notice is provided to the public that all budgets are submitted at the March meeting, posted on the town bulletin board, our Facebook site and the TDA website for full public review 90 days prior to the June Public Hearing meeting where budget voting occurs.  Entities desirous of requesting tourism-related funds for their use can apply.
The Annual Easter Egg Roll brings hundreds of folks looking for White House eggs.
The Grover Museum has been featured in over 120 newspapers worldwide.

THE IDEA: The Grover Tourism Development Authority (TDA) was lobbied for by inn owners Martin and Stormy Mongiello to be passed in the legislature creating a new OCCUPANCY tax in Grover for guests staying at a lodging establishment.  The idea being that, since Kings Mountain, Shelby and Boiling Springs had Occupancy Taxe already, then Grover could also.  It was established by an act of the North Carolina legislature in 2011 through the caring help of Senator Debbie Clary.  It's new establishment and board were appointed in 2012 by the town commissioners with a Chairman of Martin CJ Mongiello and two other members of John David (JD) Ledford and Linda Brackett.  On January 31, Bill Willis joined the board as Treasurer while the by-laws of the TDA were established.  This is an unofficial site of the Grover, TDA - as a meeting mirror site only and is NOT representing the Grover TDA in any legal matters.  For official information please contact the TDA, check the newspapers, read the minutes at City Hall or attend official meetings.  See our Facebook page for updated weekly activities with posts and interactivity.  If you have a good idea or need money for a tourism-related event in Grover, please contact us!

HISTORY: The first meeting was held at 6 pm, January 31, 2013, at The Inn of the Patriots.  If you cannot find the information you are looking for we may very well be able to quickly email it to you.  Please call Marti Mongiello at 704-937-2940 or the Town Hall.

Meetings are at 6 pm on the last Tuesday of every quarter.  In the formative year of 2013, aggressive meetings were held almost every month, until by-laws were finalized and voted into effect in January of 2014 making them 6 pm the last Tuesday of every quarter (March, June, September, and December) @ Town Hall - with a backup default of Carolina Crossing Restaurant.  In the years moving forward, the TDA will only meet quarterly.

In 2019, the TDA board members consulted with the LGC, the State of NC Department of Commerce and Treasurer about reduced taxation fees coming in to a small trickle. It was decided to put the TDA on "ice" and cease collecting a dollar or two in taxes each month until AirB&B sales increased reasonably or a large proposed hotel opened up. The last meeting, for the time being, was in June of 2019.

BACKGROUND: After a considerable period of consultation with the NC Secretary of State, NC Treasurer and NC LGC and Kara Millonzi the TDA was able to discern during 2013 exact retention of funds, distribution, who can and cannot serve on the board and banking/bonding guidelines.  The Mayor stepped off of the TDA board and became the Treasurer (as the Town Finance Officer) replacing Bill Willis in such previously ordered position, Willis thence became a regular seated member - by new appointment from the Grover Town Council in December of 2013.

TDA Agendas

The Grover TDA Agendas - Initially DRAFT agendas may be showcased to the public until they are accepted and presented into official status at the meeting held every last Tuesday of the month at the Grover Town Hall. Here are the archived TDA Agendas (in Adobe .pdf Reader format) for each month. Archives are only completed twice annually but agendas or minutes can be emailed to any requestor as well as viewed at Town Hall.  Please see:

Agendas for 2013: Initially as this new TDA started, it planned meetings for each month and had such from January through August until reorganization and by-laws were finally signed in January of 2014. From September to December The NC LGC, Secretary of State and NC Treasurer were employed with Kara Millonzi to accurately interpret the specific legislature passed ACT; how the Grover TDA would receive payments, spend monies, retain bank accounts, a Finance Officer/Treasurer and legal bonding.  The Grover TDA received differing opinions from state entities and held numerous conference calls; the NC Treasurer assisted with a formal MEMORANDUM 2014-08 to help several municipalities more clearly. Gatherings for discussion were held in July, August, September, October but no legal meetings were conducted as new board members were appointed by the Grover Town Commissioners following new town elections in November and a waiting period in December.  The legally required audit was performed and paid for (for the first six months at $725.00) by Darrell Keller CPA of Kings Mountain, NC and submitted to the state of NC.  No funds were distributed for any tourism related items in the year of 2013 and no funds were spent.  An initial $750.00 loan from the town to open a bank account was repaid by the TDA to the people of Grover.  These were the major milestones of the first year of operation, although there are numerous other initiatives delineated throughout the agendas and minutes.  These are all of the agendas ever submitted in the entire year of 2013.  You can hover over any PDF to reveal which month it is for and look at the bottom left corner of your screen, while hovering.

Agendas for 2014: With finalized by-laws, meetings were quarterly moving forward with this being the last Jan meeting ever held.  See the January, March Special meeting held for Audit, Regular March, June, September and the December Agendas can be viewed here.  You can hover over any PDF to reveal which month it is for and look at the bottom left corner of your screen, while hovering.  In accordance with NC law, the By-Laws and Robert's Rules of Order, updated version for 2014 - revision 11, a typed agenda is not required under law and Chairman Mongiello has been without a Secretary that has ever typed.  He therefore exercised this option in mid-2014 to reduce further paperwork and printing of agendas.  Minutes are still recorded and produced under law and updated at this site twice a year, or available at town hall for free or by email from the TDA for free.

TDA Minutes

The Grover TDA Minutes - Initially DRAFT minutes may be showcased to the public until they are accepted and presented into official status at the meeting held every last Tuesday of the quarter at the Grover Town Hall.  Here are the archived TDA minutes for each month. Archives are only completed twice annually but agendas or minutes can be emailed to any requestor as well as viewed at Town Hall.  Minutes from the previous meeting are presented at the NEXT meeting for approval.  We do always invite you to come to our meetings with your good ideas and financial needs!

Minutes for 2013: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun Special Budget Meeting held and Jun regular meeting, Jul, Aug, Sep meeting postponed due to meeting with NC state, Oct meeting postponed awaiting new board members to be assigned - planning discussions held, Nov meeting postponed awaiting new board members to be assigned, Dec postponed due to ice and storm damage in town.  We continue to look for a citizen to purchase and ride a large wheeled bike for events featured left).
 

Minutes for 2014: Meetings voted to quarterly - moving forward with this being the last Jan meeting ever held, Mar Special Audit Contract Meeting held (March 11, 2014), Mar regular meeting held (March 25, 2014)(these two meetings are combined on the minutes and audit from CPA Darrell Keller, CPA and the state of NC), then a Jun, Sep, Dec quarterly meeting. The Poster for the Christmas Festival featured left was done by JD Ledford.
Minutes for 2015: Mar, Jun, Sep (No meeting held in December due to the TDA waiting for the Town Council to appoint a new member as the Nov. elections moved the new Mayor Bill Willis into the position of Town Finance Officer).  At present, in accordance with Roberts Rules of Order, our TDA By-Laws and NC state law, the meetings minutes need to be reviewed and approved before being posted to the public. Beginning in June of 2015, the meeting held was tested and broadcast live on Meerkat and streamed up to the internet with a Twitter notification. Be sure to follow Chairman Marti Mongiello on Twitter and download the free APP of Meerkat or Periscope.  We may have better success with Periscope.  A portion of some 400 people attended the public hearing and commented via the broadcast during budget talks in 2015.  The board waited and answered the broadcast as well with comments from the internet.
Minutes for 2016: Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec.  This was a pretty normal year for us and the only major item the audit pointed out was that the previous Mayor and Town Finance Officer, JD Ledford, had not deposited some three months of TDA funds and had missed them.  Darrell Keller, CPA ordered the rightful funds of the TDA to be deposited which the new Mayor and Town Finance Officer, Bill Willis, did. We also were forced to amend our approved budget as the bonding cost rose by $17.00 (Travelers Insurance) thus prompting such in the December 2016 meeting (part of the 2016/2017 budget).
Minutes for 2017: Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec. This was a pretty normal year for us. We did have a special meeting in February to sign the TDA Audit Contract, only. The expansion of our tourism pamphlet program is doing well on the digital side - while we created our paper, tourism pamphlets to distribute across two states. Due to the Christmas holiday period, we did not have a meeting in December as all government offices were closed. Our tourism banners expanded with the tourism-based related draw of our town name, Grover. The Christmas Tourism Festival expanded as well, while we consider new TDA ways to make money and additional insurance policy quotes. Here you can see the President, Grover Cleveland (right) as portrayed by Mayor Bill Willis on the President's float and a Keystone Cop portrayed by Marti Mongiello protecting the First Family (First Lady Frances Folsom Cleveland as portrayed by Stormy Mongiello not shown), and Baby Ruth Cleveland holding up one of her famed Baby Ruth candy bars that are thrown to the crowds (portrayed by Rania Isabella Cleveland). The candy bars are privately paid for as is all costumery. 
Minutes for 2018:  The year 2018 started off with several replacements of the town banners being paid for by Bill Willis and Marti Mongiello, privately. The Christmas Festival had gone well in December 2017 and IN GOD WE TRUST was discussed by the town council to place onto the town hall using letters from the old GROVER INDUSTRIES sign. The town paid for it and also erected a flagpole dedicated on June 28, 2018. The TDA voted to contribute $200.00 towards the new flag raising ceremony on June 28, 2018, with booth and promotion. The September meeting was called off due to the hurricane that struck our East Cost of NC, winds, and terrible rains that historically hit our state (thankful we only picked up branches, shingles, and trees here for a weeks mess) and the December meeting fell on Christmas Day so it was not demanded. The next regularly scheduled meeting was March 26, 2019. The approved budget from the June 26, 2018 Meeting and Open Public Hearing was held and budget for 2018/2019 posted on the bulletin board in plain view of public passerby. It was agreed upon to again publish the budget meetings as always in the newspaper and online. Both of the normal Christmas parade and it's rain date was canceled due to terrible snow storms. These catastrophic events also wiped out the TDA tourism events we had planned and sent out brochures across two states. Nothing could be done about it but we saved all of the money and spent nothing as we had hoped.


The Grover Pumpkin Festival, Annual Easter Egg Roll, Fall Festival and Christmas weekends have been some of the biggest tourism-related events hosted, over the years! Adding to that, the town decided to host family movie nights on a JUMBO-TRON starting in 2018 in the town green.
Minutes for 2019: The year of 2019 started off quiet and our first meeting for the TDA was attended by all on March 26, 2019, with TDA members and guest Pastor, Richard Smith of Grover to sit in on. We did again publish notification about our meetings in the Kings Mountain Herald as we have done for seven years.

  • March 2019
  • June 2019 - meeting and a public hearing held on June 25, 2019, as was scheduled and advertised to discuss putting the TDA on ice in accordance with the recommendation of the state. As local revenues diminished in 2019 - it did not make sense to waste all of the tourism money on paying the bond and audit fees running the fund down to zero. The TDA could be reconstituted if AirB&B fees pick up or a new hotel is built within the confines of the town limits. The TDA will pay for one final audit and wrap up operations until the town Commissioners decide to reconstitute it.

Grover TDA Financial items, budgets and more

Assorted budget reports, bank balances, proposed signs, by-laws, proposed new park schematics, and financial items are showcased here. We welcome private citizens with your attorneys, private investigators, and forensic CPAs, to come in and trigger an investigation at any time. All of our records are available for your investigation.
Carolina Crossing Restaurant is typically loaded with guests!
Danny Aiello filmed in his famous shootout in Grover for the movie HOOCH.
Gil Gerard was the star of the film made in Grover (HOOCH).

TDA By-Laws and NC Statutes of assistance

Map_of_Cleveland_County_North_Carolina_With_Municipal_and_Township_Labels

TDA Initiatives, Drawings and Designs

Whistleblowers Policy and Reporting
Statement of Policy

The Grover TDA requires all to observe high standards of business and personal ethics in the conduct of their duties and responsibilities. It is the policy of The Grover TDA that members shall be encouraged to report verbally or in writing to their supervisor, department head, or any other appropriate authority, evidence of activity by an employee constituting:

  1. A violation of State or Federal law, rule or regulation
  2. Fraud
  3. Theft
  4. Malfeasance or misfeasance of State, Federal or Local resources
  5. Substantial and specific danger to the public health and safety: or
  6. Gross mismanagement, gross waste of monies, or gross abuse of authority.

Further, it is the policy of The Grover TDA that employees should be free of intimidation or harassment when reporting to public bodies about matters of public concern, including offering testimony to or testifying before appropriate legislative panels. This policy is intended to encourage and enable employees and others to raise serious concerns within the organization prior to seeking resolution outside the organization.

General Protection from Retaliation
The Grover TDA prohibits and will not tolerate any form of reprisal, retaliation or otherwise discriminate against an employee regarding the employee’s compensation, terms, conditions, location, or privileges of employment because the employee who, in good faith, has made or intends to make a report that there has been a violation of federal, state, or local law, regulation, or board policy due to a practice, policy, act or omission of the board of commissioners, of an employee, or of an entity/person with whom the county has a business relationship.

No employee exercising supervisory authority shall discharge, threaten, or otherwise discriminate against anyone regarding their compensation, terms, conditions, location or privileges of employment because they, in good faith, or a person acting on behalf of them, reports or is about to report, verbally or in writing, any violation of federal, state, or local law, regulation or board policy.

No person exercising supervisory authority shall discharge, threaten, or otherwise discriminate against an employee regarding the employee’s compensation, terms, conditions, location or privileges of employment because the employee has refused to carry out a directive which in fact constitutes a violation of federal, state, or local law, regulation or board policy, or poses a substantial and specific danger to the public health and safety.  This policy supports all protections offered by North Carolina Statute G.S. 126-84-88.

Reporting Violations
The Grover TDA supports an open door policy and suggests that anyone share their questions, concerns, suggestions, or complaints with someone who can address them properly. In most cases, an immediate supervisor is in the best position to address an area of concern. However, if you are not comfortable speaking with your supervisor or you are not satisfied with your supervisor’s response, the town and county maintains an Employee Suggestion Box policy for anonymous submittals located at the front door of the town office (LABELLED NIGHT DEPOSIT) as a means for submitting anonymous written reports.

Formal complaints should be made in writing and filed with the TDA Chairperson. Once the complaint is filed, they with the Finance Director, will conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of the complaint.

All reports are held in strict confidence, and are taken seriously. If necessary, the Town or County Manager may specify reasonable steps to protect the complaining employee from retaliation.