By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The relationship between a former Yachats City Council member now running the city’s visitor center and the current council hit a rough patch Wednesday, as two members objected to his request to hire help just six weeks after he took over the operation.
But three council members said James Kerti’s proposal asking the city to spend $20,000 of $50,000 budgeted for marketing help made sense, especially as he develops plans and re-establishes relationships with businesses and tourism organizations.
“In certain places you need to spend money,” said Councilor Jim Tooke, who joined Mayor John Moore and Councilor Max Glenn in approving Kerti’s request to hire George Mazeika to help him through next June. “The fall and winter are coming and we need to plan for that.”
Councilors Leslie Vaaler and Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey opposed the hire, saying it was too soon to spend more city money before clearer marketing plans and an overall budget are worked out.
Kerti served on the council for a year before resigning in frustration in January 2019. He has a background in website and business development and was awarded a 2-year contract to run the city’s visitor center starting July 1. The Yachats Chamber of Commerce had held the contract for more than 20 years, but came in second to Kerti in a ranking of operation proposals. The council approved the change in June, saying the center and marketing needed a new approach and plans.
The visitor center contract is for $65,000 a year – intended to pay Kerti’s wages and some – but apparently not clearly defined – operating costs. The city also has $30,000 set aside for marketing that Kerti can tap.
And, this year the city budget committee and council added $50,000 to hire an additional marketing person, should one be needed. Vaaler and O’Shaughnessey opposed that spending during budget and council deliberations.
Kerti told the council there is little need to promote tourism this summer because the town is already full. But it is important to plan new ways to promote the area, he said, especially since large festivals in the fall and winter are already cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The work we’re trying to do now is not to bring people here right now,” Kerti said in a response to Vaaler’s questions. “It’s about doing the preparatory work now … so that we are prepared for whatever comes our way in the future.”
But Vaaler asked if the request was because Kerti was overwhelmed with tasks during the first weeks of the reorganization or simply a request for help.
“This is not a knee-jerk panic hire,” Kerti replied, saying he has been consulting regularly with Yachats businesses and other coastal organizations and needs help with meetings, outreach and planning. “… it’s about finding opportunities to do better. To have someone work alongside me.”
Mazeika is currently the manager of the Yachats Farmers Market. He has experience in retail, but has also organized festivals and has a background in newspaper and book publishing. He would be a subcontractor for Kerti, working part-time as needed.
Mazeika told the council that Yachats needs a “serious, professional” approach to marketing. “James has his hands full. I’d like to help.”
That the item was even on the council agenda shows a bit of the city’s growing pains as it struggles to move from a strong mayor/city recorder to a city manager/council form of governance. That was hinted at by Tooke and Community Services manager Heather Hoen, who until July had been a city contractor, during Wednesday’s discussion.
The council had already approved money for the marketing position. In most cities, counties or school districts that leaves who to hire up to the chief administrator.
It’s complicated also by the fact that Kerti is an independent contractor who is supposed to make regular reports to the city manager and council but whose contract only comes up every two years. Contractors are also usually not directly managed by policy-making bodies, but by city, county or school administrators.
Yet Vaaler, O’Shaughnessey and Ann Stott, who is running for the council in the November election, on Wednesday asked how he was spending his money, including Stott asking how much he was paying himself.
“We don’t have a budget here,” O’Shaughnessey said. “I’d like to see, at some point, a budget.”
In other business Wednesday the council:
- Appointed Nancy LaFever, Viki West and Naomi Steenson to the Library Commission, which was down to three members;
- Appointed Williams Toombs to the Public Works & Streets Commission;
- Approved the location of two gates on Gimlet Drive, a steep street between Horizon Hill and Elk Mountain roads, that would prevent people from driving up or down and getting stuck but still allow residents to get through them in case of emergency. City staff still needs to determine the style and cost of the gates.
- Discontinued workers compensation coverage for city volunteers but replaced that with a $50,000 excess medical expense policy.
