Carson City CTA rates executive director "outstanding," sets pay at top of range

The Carson City Culture and Tourism Authority board voted on Jan. 13 to adopt annual performance objectives for Executive Director David Peterson, give him an overall rating of “outstanding” for the Dec. 17, 2023–Dec. 16, 2024 review period and set his salary at the maximum of the executive director pay range.

The board said the rating and objectives reflect Peterson's leadership on events, marketing and partnership projects over the past year, including adding a no-commission booking engine to visitcarsoncity.com, producing a winter short film tied to a new marketing campaign, launching new special events and securing a regional grant for the 3-D Cultural Corridor project.

Peterson told the board that Objective 1 was completed when the booking engine went live Jan. 16, 2024, and that the organization had developed multiple new special events and a contracted motor-coach tour that could generate 90 room nights in August 2025. He also reported that the Office had integrated lodging tax and sales-and-use tax data into a DataFi analytics dashboard and launched other marketing work and gallery programming.

Chair Mike Jones moved the motion to adopt Peterson's objectives, set his rating at outstanding and set his salary at the maximum for the executive director salary range. The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board did not record opposing votes.

The minutes and discussion record show the board acknowledged that a 5% merit increase at the "outstanding" level would exceed the top of the salary range; Todd Reese, deputy district attorney, and staff confirmed the salary was therefore capped at the top of the range. Board members discussed reviewing salary ranges during the upcoming budget process.

Board members offering on-record praise for Peterson included Chair Mike Jones and Andrew Reno. Jones said Peterson "never loses his passion for his job," and Reno said Peterson has helped create stronger regional cooperation among nearby destination organizations.

The board discussed a set of proposed objectives for 2025, including finalizing the CTA personnel policy, sustaining and creating special events, continuing analytics work, and serving as lead organization on the 3-D Cultural Corridor grant through 2026. The board approved the objectives as part of the same motion.

The vote and direction taken were limited to what is on the public record; the board also noted the possibility of revisiting salary ranges during budget hearings.

The action on Peterson's review was the only formal personnel action recorded during the meeting.