The Town of Estes Park Trustees and the Larimer County Commissioners met Tuesday for a two-hour joint session to address concerns raised by Town Trustee Kirby Hazelton about the Visit Estes Park Board of Directors.
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Hazelton was appointed in April 2024 to serve as the Estes Park Town Board liaison to the VEP board.
In an April 1, 2025 letter addressed to the Larimer County Commissioners and sent to Estes Park Town Trustees, Hazelton called for dismissing the VEP board, citing issues with board operations and not adhering to policy governance.
She wrote, “the Visit Estes Park Board has demonstrated a pattern of being unable or uncommitted to responsibly govern the organization. By not properly managing and obtaining a Chief Executive Officer, by choosing to avoid community transparency, and by abandoning the obligation to be beholden to its owners, or the Estes Valley, it serves, the Visit Estes Park Board is currently dysfunctional, ineffective, and jeopardizing future operations.”
Hazelton requested “a joint meeting between the Larimer County Commissioners and the Town of Estes Park Board of Trustees, to discuss the following three agenda items: 1) Removal of Visit Estes Park board members 2) Appointment of replacement and/or temporary board members to any vacated Visit Estes Park board seats 3) Interim CEO appointment (current Interim CEO’s contract expires May 15, 2025).”
Visit Estes Park is a local marketing district that voters in the Estes Valley authorized in 2008. The organization, which has a $9.7 million budget, is primarily funded through a bed tax on lodging, and its role is to promote tourism to Estes Park.
During the meeting, the elected members of the town and county discussed issues raised by Hazelton.
Estes Park Trustee Cindy Younglund moved to remove the members of the board. Trustee Marie Cenac made a substitute motion to table Younglund’s motion. Cenac’s motion passed in a five-to-two vote, with Younglund and Trustee Bill Brown voting against tabling Younglund’s motion.
In an email to Sean Jergens, VEP board chair, available on the VEP and Town Board public email portals, Brown said he voted against tabling Cenac’s motion because he thought that if a vote were taken on Younglund’s motion to remove the board, it would not pass, and he wanted that to be on the record.
The two governing bodies decided that now is not the time to alter board makeup, but making their joint expectations clearer was needed.
To begin the process, the trustees and commissioners asked the town and county staff to review and potentially update the IGA.
VEP is currently served by an interim CEO, Mike Zumbaugh, who assumed the role last August when Kara Franker left to take a position with the Florida Keys marketing organization. Zumbaugh is also the organization’s CFO. His contract as interim CEO is set to end on May 15.
VEP began a search for a new CEO in late 2024. Three applicants were selected to move forward with interviews. One applicant withdrew before the interview process began. Two candidates, Candace Carr Strauss and Cindy Mackin, VEP’s community engagement director, went through the first round of presentations with a search committee.
However, the board received an anonymous email that raised concerns about one of the applicants. The VEP board consulted with an attorney, and a firm was hired to investigate the information in the email. The investigation concluded that nothing alleged in the email could be substantiated.
The VEP put the search on hold and decided to hire an interim CEO for a 90-day period to provide the organization with stability and to assist with the search for a permanent CEO. That decision has not been without controversy because the individual selected, Bill Hanbury, does not live in Estes Park. He would work remotely and come to Estes Park once a month. His salary would be $23,000 a month, plus travel expenses.
After the VEP board decided to hire Hanbury, it was disclosed that the interim-CEO position needed to be properly noticed for 10 days because VEP is a tax-supported government organization.
On April 25, Zumbaugh emailed members of the VEP staff about the required job posting, “VEP will have an opening for the position of Interim CEO as of May 15, 2025. Salary $22,500 monthly, plus benefits including; health, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, PTO, & PERA retirement.”
Zumbaugh’s email indicated that applications needed to be submitted by May 1.
Mackin, who had applied for the CEO position, applied for the interim CEO role on April 30 in an email addressed to Jurgens and the members of the VEP board.
According to an email sent by Zumbaugh on Tuesday morning to members of the VEP Town Board, Town Trustees, Estes Park’s Director of Child Care Carlie Bangs, and the Executive Director of the Estes Chamber Coleen DePasquale, Mackin had been put on administrative leave on Monday evening “pending an investigation. As this is a personnel matter, further information will only be provided as appropriate.”
Members of the board of VEP include Sean Jurgens, Chair; Town Trustee Kirby Hazelton, Vice Chair; Deborah Gibson, Secretary; Jerusha Rice, Treasurer; Pat Murphy, Director; and Nick Smith, Director. The next board meeting of VEP is scheduled for May 22 at 2 p.m. and can be watched by the public online.
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