The Park County Travel Council has winnowed down its list of candidates to a handful of finalists; now members are just waiting for schedules to align to do in depth interviews. 

At Thursday’s council meeting, held at the end of a day-long retreat at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, Chair John Parsons provided an update on the process after being asked by Cody Country Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jennifer Thoma. 

Parsons said the delay is in getting schedules to align so board members and candidates are available at the same time for discussions. He said he had hoped to be further along, but “we’re a couple weeks out from those interviews.”

“We're not so worried about time as getting the right person, but it's been a conflict in calendars as much as anything,” Parsons said. “We had that short list narrowed down, and you know, it's just a tough time of year to travel. It's a tough time to get the board together. It's a tough time to get them in the same room as the board.”

He said they’ve actually tried two different times to bring both groups together for interviews, and hopes “the third time’s the charm.”

“We've been working extremely hard,” he said. “We've got a lot of time and energy in this.”

That process started in the summer after former executive director Ryan Hauck (the director he replaced, Claudia Wade, took a break from retirement to talk with council members during the retreat) left the post in early July, and — after hiring an executive firm to help with the search — the council originally hoped to find a replacement by mid-September. Hauck left after four years at the helm of the organization and, since he departed, Administrative Assistant Amanda Keyes and Marketing Manager Katrina Southern have kept the department running. 

“We're going to make it work here pretty shortly … and I will say we've got great candidates,” Parsons said. “We've got a really thorough process to get to this point.”