- April 29, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Vice President of Tourist Development Peggy Heiser resigned as Flagler’s lead tourism coordinator, effective Oct. 28.
Announced the morning of Thursday, Oct. 20, Peggy Heiser, vice president of tourist development for the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce & Affiliates, has resigned from her position, effective Friday, Oct. 28.
“I have put my heart and soul the last six years into developing this county into a destination,” said Heiser, who joined the chamber in 2005 as a one-woman tourism department. “(But) all good things must come to an end.”
As Flagler’s lead tourism coordinator, Heiser and her team helped raised bed-tax collections from $818,448 in the 2006 fiscal year to a projected $1.01 million in 2011, with the most recent August collection being the highest ever recorded. Demand for hotel rooms was recorded at 15% higher this fiscal year than last, and visitation to the www.VisitFlagler.org website has increased annually, tallying more than 75,000 unique visitors so far this year.
“It was certainly unexpected,” County Commissioner Milissa Holland, who chairs the Tourist Development Council, said of Heiser’s departure. “Peggy was instrumental in placing a face on tourism in Flagler County … Her fingerprints will remain on many initiatives she implemented during her tenure.”
Hesier will go on to work full-time with her husband, Bill, a former sheriff who trains dogs for bomb, drug and cell-phone detection. At 10 current employees, his New Smyrna-based company, Southern Coast K9, has grown 500% in the past year, Heiser said, and is now moving toward military contracts.
As she did with Flagler, Heiser plans to help the company focus on niche markets.
“One of her top priorities in life is her family,” Holland said. “She loves what she does here, but her family comes first … Peggy felt very strongly that she had to step in and help out.”
In a presentation of 2012’s strategic plan and budget proposal, Heiser asked for, and was granted from the TDC in a vote of 6-1, raises for herself and her two employees. The pay bumps did not pass the County Commission, however, which denied them a month later.
“(The raises had) absolutely no bearing on my decision,” Heiser said. “None.”
Noting that she’s been considering resignation for the past six months, she cited the 100 minutes per day she’s been commuting to Flagler the past six years. With a 13-year-old daughter at home, she said wanted to be closer to her family.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “It’s a change. It’s what best for my life.”
Holland noted that the timing of Heiser’s departure should make for a smooth transition for the new tourism head. With an eight-month visitor profile study set to begin after the next County Commission meeting, Oct. 31, her successor will be given that time to acclimate to the job before beginning work on a new leg of the TDC’s strategic plan, based on the study’s findings.
“She did a really great job in laying a strong foundation,” Holland said. “We have a tremendous amount of momentum.”
Heiser will also be available by phone to help during the transition.
“We have laid it out completely, on the entire calendar year,” Heiser said of the TDC’s current strategic plan, which is in its third and final year. “I feel like I owed it to Flagler County to at least finish that much before I walked out the door.”
A consultant has also been hired, who will work with the new vice president in designing the next five-year plan.
“I really, really love Flagler County. And I really, really loved what I was doing there,” Heiser said. “I just had to make a personal decision … It’s not a bad thing — it’s a positive thing.”
FILLING A VOID
A job description for a new vice president of tourist development was posted on www.EmployFlorida.com Monday, Oct. 24.
For more, call 586-5171.
DEVELOPING TOURIST DEVELOPMENT
As the leader of Flagler tourism, Peggy Heiser worked for the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce & Affiliates, which is contracted by the Flagler County Board of County Commission to act as marketing consultants to the county. Her team reports to the Tourist Development Council, an advisory board to the County Commission.
