It was smiles the Monroe County Tourist Development Council meeting yesterday when Kara Franker was selected to be president/CEO of the organization based in the Florida Keys. Franker has been CEO of Visit Estes Park (VEP) for the past three years.
While pleased with the employment offer, Franker has not surrendered her duties here yet. In fact, with the wildfires at Estes Park’s highway entries, she has been spending much of her time in conversation with her staff and Police Chief Ian Stewart to make certain the message presented to Estes Park’s visitors is on target and meets the needs of the community.
Besides, she added, “I haven’t resigned. I’d want to give 30 days’ notice, but I don’t have the details I need” to officially accept the position in Florida.”
One of those immediate duties is coordinating staff messaging dealing with concerns about both the Alexander and Stone Mountain fires. VEP not only crafts the verbiage used, but works with neighboring tourism partners such as those in Fort Collins, Loveland and Longmont to share resources and taking due care to make sure visitors coming from all vantage points pay attention to all posted signage and follow directions of personnel on the ground to ensure their safety.
Staff members Cindy Makin, Heidi Barfels, and Claire Molle are handling the major load of creating website announcements, social media and other internal details of the VEP crisis communication plan. Normally Rachel Ward Oppermann would play a more major role in those communications, but as an Allenspark firefighter, VEP wants to make sure she’s available at a moment’s notice to report for those duties.
In addition to dealing with communications issues surrounding the fires, Franker and the staff are making sure everything is ready for tomorrow’s VEP Zoom meeting when board members will review and discuss a proposed 2025 operating plan for the organization for the first time. Any recommendations board members suggest will be incorporated into the final 98-page document before the board of directors’ Aug. 22 meeting. The Zoom meeting is open to the public.