Update Sept. 13: The Red Barn in Clermont County is no longer a potential location of an FC Cincinnati practice facility, but the county is still in play and the benefit would be millions of dollars, an official said.

Clermont County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) interim president Jim Comodeca did not name the sites that remain in contention but emphasized during a presentation to the Clermont County Board of Commissioners that tourism is a high-stakes business that's highly competitive.

The economic benefit of landing the FC Cincinnati practice facility for Clermont County is about $50 million over five years, he said. This is why the CVB is aggressively pursuing this for the county.

More:Clermont County commissioner gets restraining order against 'textbook psychotic' critic of FC Cincinnati facility tax

The work behind the scenes to attract a professional sports facility to the county is similar to efforts undertaken by CVB staff members in the past to attract other big events including bringing the USRowing Club Nationals to East Fork State Park, Kings Hammer Soccer tournaments to the Red Barn property in Batavia, and next year's Geowoodstock XVI geocaching event, Comodeca said.

Monies raised by the 1 percent hotel tax the CVB successfully lobbied for inclusion in the state's biennium budget would pay for construction, improvements, and maintenance of a professional sports facility. FC Cincinnati, if it chooses to locate in Clermont County, would also invest money in the facility.

“This lodging tax is designed for us to be able to keep our facilities where they need to be and grow them," Comodeca said. "When the board decided that we needed this 1 percent tax, it wasn’t just willy nilly."

The additional tax, if enacted by the county commissioners, would be charged to hotel guests.

No action resulted following Comodeca's presentation to the commissioners. He said that if a deal with FC Cincinnati does come to fruition, he will return to the county commissioners with a presentation and request the 1 percent hotel tax be enacted.

Previous reporting: Questions and accusations of secrecy regarding a Futbol Club Cincinnati practice facility coming to Clermont County linger ahead of a special meeting of the county commissioners on additional taxes for the facility.

Representatives of the Clermont County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) are expected to share plans for an additional lodging tax included in the state’s fiscal year 2018-2019 biennium budget. The additional 1 percent tax for hotel guests, which could generate an estimated $222,000 a year, would reportedly pay for construction, improvements, and maintenance of a professional sports facility for FC Cincinnati.

CVB interim president Jim Comodeca confirmed the CVB was in negotiations with FC Cincinnati but did not say whether Clermont County remained in consideration.

“We can’t just go making announcements of future plans because of the competitive nature of the business,” he said in response to a question about excluding some government leaders from discussions.

The CVB is a private, nonprofit entity. It’s not subject to the same sunshine laws that apply to public offices, he said. Tourism is a very competitive business.

PX: Is political fight brewing over proposed FC Cincinnati practice complex?

News of the lodging tax and its possible intent surfaced shortly after leadership for Miami and Union Townships expressed outrage that they were not included in talks.

Union Township is home to eight of the county's 12 hotels and Miami Township has one. Plans apparently called for the sports facility to be located on acreage around the Red Barn in Batavia.

The 1 percent bed tax should have been publicly vetted prior to the amendment to the biennium budget, according to Union Township Trustee John McGraw. Administrators and elected officials only learned of the tax and the sports facility discussions after the biennium budget's passage, he said.

One resident thinks Tuesday's meeting is nothing more than window dressing.

“It’s just to be able to say we had a meeting,” said Chris Hicks, a Union Township resident and committee member for the Clermont County Republican Party Central Committee. Since learning about the bed tax and sports facility plans, Hicks has pushed for answers and public discussion.

The presentation by the CVB will not address the real issue and that’s the lack of transparency and collaborative government, he said.

Of key concern to Hicks is Clermont County Commissioner David Uible’s role in the process and what Hicks called Uible’s conflicts of interest. In addition to serving as the commission president, Uible also serves on the CVB executive board and is president of the Clermont County Republican Party Central Committee.

Uible declined to comment for this story.

At the request of the CVB, Republican Rep. Doug Green sponsored the hotel tax amendment calling it economically beneficial to the region. He also worked with Republican Sen. Joe Uecker on two conditions - a two-year sunset clause and a requirement for a signed contract with a professional sports team prior to the enactment of the additional bed tax.

The conditions were not part of the ask from the CVB and limit potential uses, according to Comodeca.

Clermont County already has a 6 percent lodging tax. Three percent flows through the county to the visitors bureau, the remaining three percent goes to the township or municipality where the hotels are located.

The special meeting is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12 in the county commissioner’s session room, 101 E. Main St.