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Commissioners approve two CVB nominees, ask director to find alternate for third seat amid legal concerns
Summary
The Geary County Convention & Visitors Bureau advisory board recommended three nominees; commissioners approved two hoteliers, declined or deferred placing a local resort owner who is involved in litigation, and asked CVB staff to identify another representative for the third seat.
Geary County commissioners approved two nominees to the Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVV) advisory board and asked the CVV director to find an alternate for the third vacancy after commissioners raised concerns about ongoing litigation involving one nominee.
Raquel Cinco, CVV director, formally requested approval of three nominees that had been unanimously recommended by the advisory board: Daisy Bergmer (general manager, Holiday Inn Express), Nolberto (Nolberto) Padilla (executive chef at the Geary County Convention Center) and Mike Harris (general manager/owner, Acorns Resort). Cinco said the advisory board’s motion complied with the CVV bylaws, which require a majority of advisory-board members to be representatives of hotels or transient-guest-tax-collecting properties.
Several commissioners praised the first two nominees’ hospitality experience and local event expertise, and a motion was made to accept Daisy Bergmer and Chef Padilla. One commissioner objected to seating Mike Harris at this time, citing ongoing legal cases in which Harris has sued the county. The commission did not appoint Harris to the seat and instructed the CVV director to identify another qualified representative — for example, someone representing a transient-guest-tax-collecting property — to fill the remaining vacancy.
The transcript shows a motion and second to accept the first two nominees; the meeting record does not include a recorded roll-call tally for that specific vote.
Context: The CVV advisory board advises county leaders on tourism promotion and transient guest tax (TGT) use. Cinco told commissioners that the three nominees would strengthen the advisory board’s hotel representation and event-planning capacity, with Mike Harris noted in the CVV submission as the county’s highest transient-guest-tax-generating property operator. Commissioners also discussed the broader makeup of the advisory board (hoteliers, Airbnbs and other lodging) and the practical need for Zoom participation to allow working hoteliers to serve on the board.
What comes next: The CVV director will return with an alternative nominee to fill the advisory-board slot that commissioners declined to fill at this meeting. The advisory board’s removal of an inactive member (for missing three meetings, per bylaws) was also recapped during the presentation.
