The board of the Monroe County Tourist Development Council voted on July 30 to hire Kara Franker, a destination marketing executive and attorney who has previously worked in South Florida, to take the helm of the Keys multimillion-dollar tourism agency as its first president/CEO.
A county-appointed committee unanimously chose Franker from four finalists left standing, after the job search began months earlier, at a July 26 meeting. Both sides still need to negotiate a few contract terms.
“I am grateful to the TDC board for having the confidence in me to join the team,” Franker told Keys Weekly after the vote. “I have so much respect for their leadership and for the current team. I have lots to learn and plan to speak with as many people as possible to get insight and advice. I’m excited.”
Franker would officially work for Visit Florida Keys, the nonprofit that employs TDC staff. She will answer to the unpaid TDC board members.
The hiring comes after a tumultuous period for the TDC, which is funded through a bed tax collected from hotel and lodging establishments. The bed taxes fund marketing campaigns, special event advertising and some building projects to promote the Keys, where the main economic engine is tourism, as a destination.
On Oct. 31, 2023, County Clerk Kevin Madok released the first in a series of audits critical of the financial practices at the TDC.
In March, the TDC board unanimously approved a motion by County Mayor Holly Raschein, who sits on the TDC board as a representative of the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners, to fire the TDC’s marketing director, Stacey Mitchell.
County leaders, including longtime County Administrator Roman Gastesi, later stuck up for Mitchell, saying the TDC has needed a chief financial officer on staff in addition to a marketing leader, which was Mitchell’s specialty.
Mitchell didn’t speak publicly at the TDC meetings where her employment status was discussed. But her attorney, Zachary Zermay, eventually appeared at a meeting to tell the board Mitchell was treated unfairly. Zermay told Keys Weekly he is preparing a wrongful termination lawsuit to file by the end of the year.
Zermay said Mitchell is being “thrown under the bus” because she became a political target over $150,000 in TDC funding of Monroe County’s recent 200th anniversary celebration.
“It’s an election year,” Zermay said.
The request was initially denied because of a deadline issue. But the money to pay for a drone fireworks show in March 2023 was eventually provided by the TDC.
