The Monroe County Tourist Development Council agreed Tuesday, July 30, to start contract negotiations with a Colorado executive to be the next director/chief executive officer of the TDC.
The TDC board gave direction to acting TDC Director Diane Schmidt and Assistant County Attorney Christine Limbert-Barrows to negotiate a salary with Kara Franker, with annual salary range of $210,000 to $250,000 a year plus benefits and to include a three-month housing allowance of up to $25,000 to cover her living expenses while she and her family find a permanent residence in the Keys.
Franker has been the chief executive officer with Visit Estes Park in Estes Park, Colorado, since 2021. She was senior vice president of marketing and communication of Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau from 2019 to 2021, founder of the communications company Kara Franker Inc. from 2012 to 2019 and a prosecutor at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office from 2011 to 2012.
Franker and three other candidates interviewed twice with a TDC selection committee before the TDC agreed to start contract negotiations with her. She started her interview with the phrase, “Ideas are nice. Execution is everything.” She spoke about the importance of a strategic plan and being “competitive in the market share” while “focusing on the community,” restoring “confidence” and building “trust.”
Franker attended but did not speak at Tuesday’s TDC meeting.
The selection committee chose Nerissa Serrano-Okiye, director of tourism for the Martin County Office of Tourism and Marketing, as an alternative in the event a contract can not be worked out between Franker and the TDC. She previously worked as director of research, director of special projects and operations manager for the Georgia Department of Economic Development in Atlanta from 2002 to 2014.
The TDC is one of the most critical and well-funded county operations, as the Florida Keys are dependent on tourism for its economy. The TDC operates on a roughly $60 million-a-year budget. The funds come from taxes on hotels and other transient rental businesses. For years, there has been debate in the Keys about how much the TDC spends on advertising compared to what it spends on capital improvement projects.
The TDC board terminated the contract for the previous director, Stacey Mitchell, on March 26 after the Clerk of Court’s Office issued three audits critical of her and the TDC operations. In June, Mitchell’s attorney sent a letter to the Monroe County administrator stating she was filing a whistleblower and wrongful termination complaint and claiming she was fired because the TDC did not support a drone show last year that was proposed by Monroe County Commissioner Craig Cates. A TDC board chose not to grant $150,000 in funding to the show because it did not meet certain TDC requirements for funding, but the Monroe County Commission agreed to fund the show after Cates put the request on a commission agenda.
Also on Tuesday, the TDC board seemed to be in agreement with having Franker move forward on, or at least research, having the TDC gain the status of Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP). DMAP is an internationally recognized program designation that set certain performance standards in destination marketing and management. Some TDC board members raised questions about the cost of achieving the DMAP status.
The TDC board also agreed to move forward on a plan to create a chief financial officer position to work with Franker as the CEO for the TDC, which operates under the corporate name Visit Florida Keys.
The TDC board also voted on its marketing plan for the upcoming fiscal year. The council approved the plan except for a series of new positions that were proposed. TDC board members wanted Franker to be involved in staffing decisions.
Tuesday was the last meeting for TDC board Chair Rita Irwin. She has served on the TDC for 30 years.
One of the big issues Franker and the TDC will face in the coming years is how to spend $35 million in surplus local TDC funds for housing. The governor signed a bill, SB 1456, this past legislative session that allows surplus TDC funding to be used for affordable housing on a one-time basis.
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