Advertising commission begins administrator search

The advertising and promotion commission had an emergency meeting last Wednesday to discuss replacing the commission's current administrator, Paula Sanders.

The commission voted unanimously in favor of giving the board's chairman, Doug Fowler, up to $88,000 to hire a full-time worker with benefits to be determined.

Paula Sanders, the current administrator for the commission, said that typically an organization spending 20-25% of its budget on administration is spending its money well.

Sanders previously stated she is moving out of the area and that's going to leave a vacant position.

The job is likely to be posted on the Discover Bella Vista website, the city website and online job listing services, she said.

Commission chairman Doug Fowler said that he was concerned that a part-time person would require management from the commission and there may be turnover, meaning the potentially extensive interview process could need to be repeated.

"We need someone to stand on their own two feet that has the capability of effectively doing this job," he said.

A task list and job description are in the works for the position, he said.

There are some questions up in the air, he explained, about whether this worker can be tied in with the city's benefits program.

"We're trying to do the best we can with what we have," Fowler said.

Commissioner Rich Siker said he'd like to see an incentive system for the employee's pay rate, possibly hinging on helping to create more events in town or bringing other things to the community.

"You have to provide motivation for people to work hard," he said.

Sanders said she's not sure how an incentive program could work. A common metric is hotel stay pickup to show an increase in people staying in the area, she said, but that isn't readily measurable in a city without hotels.

"I can't wrap my head around it right now because we're so different," she said.

Other concerns Sanders highlighted included a need for potential office space and possibly some IT infrastructure that could help keep secure backups of the future administrator's advertising and promotion commission-related data.

General News on 11/06/2019