Tourist commission formally hires Emily Kay Downey as executive director at $2,500 for 100 hours per month

From left: Samantha Aiken of Brainbox, Executive Director Emily Downey, member Neil Vasilakes (hidden), member Lee Howard, chair Maria Bohanan (wearing a birthday tiara), unofficial member Elisha Holt, Midway member Cortney Neikirk

By Dalton Stokes

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

The Woodford County Tourist Commission unanimously approved the appointment of Emily Kay Downey as its first executive director at its monthly meeting Friday morning. The commission tentatively agreed to approve a contract calling for Downey to work 100 hours per month, for $2,500 a month, as an independent contractor.

In other business, a representative from Brainbox, the Lexington digital marketing company, updated the commission on the progress of their marketing campaign, and there was a brief discussion on including Midway more heavily in next year’s Bourbon Chase.

Friday's meeting was the commission’s first in the City Council chamber at the Versailles Municipal Building, signifying its move from the Chamber of Commerce, which had provided staff and facilities. With the recent increase in bed-tax revenue from the new hotel in Versailles, the commission has money to hire its own staff, something Commission Chair Maria Bohanon said it should have done long ago if it had the funds.

Downey was chosen a week earlier by the five members of the commission who interviewed six of the 11 people who applied for the job. Because a quorum of the commission met to discuss and act on the personnel matter, that constituted a meeting under the Kentucky Open Meetings Act. The law allows public agencies to discuss hiring in private, but requires them to do it in a closed session called during an open meeting. It prohibits taking any final action in private.

Bohanon said at Friday’s meeting said she issued a press release announcing the choice soon after the decision Friday because she “thought it would be nice for people to know ahead of time.” She added, “We had six high caliber people that we interviewed. We have some real talent in Woodford County.”

Downey will remain North American marketing manager for Alltech, a agricultural-products firm in Nicholasville, and will take the second job with the company’s support, Bohanan said.

“Emily, I’m thrilled,” Bohanon said. “I cannot wait for you to bring your skills, and your contacts, and your love for this place to this board.” She said one of the most important things that the commission was looking for in a candidate was passion, and “You have passion for this.”

Downey said, “I really look forward to telling the story of Woodford County to the world.”

Downey is married to William Downey, a magistrate on the Fiscal Court, and is the sister of James Kay, the county judge-executive. Bohanon said earlier this week that those ties may cause “perception issues.” The judge-executive appoints some commission members.

Bohanon noted at the meeting that Downey was chosen with a scoring system in which each candidate is given a certain number of points in different categories, and “Emily had the highest score.”

The one commission member who didn’t participate in interviews was Neil Vasilakes, who said at the meeting that he was busy with the grape harvest at his vineyard and his absence “wasn’t making a statement.” He expressed his support for Downey and the commission’s process.

At the last commission meeting, Vasilakes said, “There are some rumors going around that we’re not following a process and we have a shoo-in person.” He said of the Messenger’s story about that meeting, “I felt like that article maybe insinuated that I was not for the process, but I am, totally.”

On a motion by Midway member Cortney Neikirk, the commission unanimously approved Downey’s contract, pending legal advice from County Attorney Alan George, and gave Bohanan the authority to make any necessary changes.

Bohanan said Kay had suggested that George be consulted because the commission’s attorney, Bill Moore, won’t be available until after Nov. 1, the day Downey is supposed to start work. George said Friday afternoon that he told Bohanan after the meeting to have a private attorney do the work.

Bohanan said the contract was modeled after the one used to employ John Soper as paid chairman of the Woodford County Economic Development Authority, of which she is a board member. It calls for Downey to "develop and supervise plans to promote Woodford County as a regional visitors destination" and lists 18 specific duties, including supervision of "day-to-day activities in the visitors center(s)" and "ensure that all visitors' inquiries from are answered promptly and courteously."

The contract refers to working in Versailles and providing services to the city, but Bohanan said in an email that she copied that language from the city's agreement with Soper and it will be changed to say Woodford County. The contract is to be for a one-year term beginning Nov. 1, extendable by mutual agreement of the parties. It can be terminated by either party for any reason on 30 days' notice.

Other business: The director of digital marketing at Brainbox, Samantha Aiken, updated the commission on the progress of the commission’s geotargeting marketing campaign. The firm’s website says, “Brainbox Intelligent Marketing is an experiential and digital marketing company based in Lexington” that handles marketing campaigns for three branches of the U.S. military, Valvoline and John Deere.

The commission contracts Brainbox to advertise Woodford County online and handle its social media marketing. Bohanon said the commission has a six-month contract with Brainbox and was paid $3,818 this month for its services.

Aiken reported that their campaign is “going really well,” according to Google and Facebook analytics. According to her handout the cost per click is $1.53, which is “on par with CPC rates of travel and tourism companies.”

She also talked about the newsletter the commission is putting out with the help of Brainbox, which has 85 subscribers.

Bohanon asked Aiken for a beginning-to-end report when the six-month contract is over so the commission can “see how to spend our money” amid the transition to a higher budget organization. “We’ve got to have as many performance indicators as we can,” Bohanon said.

Bohanon requested reimbursement from the commission for doughnuts she bought for the Bourbon Chase, a running relay of around 200 miles that goes through Kentucky’s historic Bourbon Trail. “We had gobs of people come into town,” she said. The commission voted to reimburse her $182 for the doughnuts.

 “Next year, hopefully, the Weisenberger Mill Bridge will be back up and running and I would like us to really make a presence not only in Versailles but also Midway,” Bohanon said after the vote. “It’s a great way to … show people our community.”