Baker County adopts tourism strategic plan, board authorizes RFP to weigh hiring vs. contracting

Jack Baker, chair of the county Tourism Development Council, introduced the TDC's final strategic plan and asked commissioners to approve the document and authorize a solicitation to evaluate whether the county should hire a tourism director or contract the work.

"We are at the conclusion, I hope, of a long journey for a lot of us in revising the TDC strategic plan," Baker said as he introduced consultant John Wisden of Northstar Destination Strategies. Wisden told the board his team combined stakeholder surveys, a secret-shopper review and market studies to recommend six strategies covering organization, product development, marketing and visitor experience.

The plan recommends establishing a clear organizational structure, recruiting a tourism director or contracting those services, developing a community and tourism brand and investing occupancy-tax dollars in marketing and product development. Wisden emphasized the economic case for tourism: "Tourism is real money," he said.

Staff said the TDC has prepared a preliminary annual budget and noted about $1.6 million in reserves in the TDC fund. Commissioners pressed staff for clarity on contingency and line-item differences in the packet; staff said the TDC proposes budgeting $365,000 in anticipated expenses with any excess placed in a contingency/reserve line and returned to the board for approval before spending.

The board voted to approve the strategic plan and to publish an RFP to solicit price and service proposals so the county can compare the cost and value of hiring an in-house tourism director versus contracting services. The TDC said a separate, later conversation will set priorities and implementation timing.

What happens next: staff will prepare the RFP and return options to commissioners for a policy decision about structure, staffing and budget allocations.