Full-time staff of the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission will be rewarded for another year of overachieving.
That’s what members of the CAPC discussed during an 18-minute special meeting held Friday, Dec. 5, where end-of-year bonuses were approved.
“I have said that this team does the job of multiple people,” commissioner Heather Wilson said. “They work nights, they work weekends, and they know that this is their job, but they do it well. They’re not just skating by, they’re committed, they show up.
“This isn’t a conversation about have they met expectations. They exceed expectations.”
The CAPC has decided to use 1 percent of the cash tax collections on hand, earned from December 2024 through November 2025, to determine the amount of the bonuses for the five full-time employees.
That amount, $20,993, will be split between tourism director Mike Maloney, administrative manager Danyelle Harris, marketing and communications manager Katelyn Jerrell, group sales manager Janalee Kaylor and finance director Ty Reed.
“Executive director Mike Maloney will determine the appropriate designation of bonus for each staff member,” Wilson said in her motion to approve the bonus pool, which is a few thousand dollars more than a year ago.
Collections currently stand at just under $2 million, but commissioners discussed the expectations that the amount will go up in coming weeks.
Including December 2024 in the pool, the amount used to base the 1 percent for bonuses is approximately $2.1 million, Reed said.
“Which I think that’s what we should go off of because I think that that’s more representative of reality,” Wilson said. “I am an advocate for the 1 percent. … that’s where we are and I think that that’s the minimum that we can do, and hopefully we set an example for other areas of the city for employees who are stepping up, too.”
Maloney said his staff is irreplaceable and deserves all the appreciation they can get.
“Last year when we did the evaluations, honestly it wasn’t easy,” Maloney said. “It wasn’t easy not because it was bad, it was not easy because it was so good. When you have people that work at exemplary levels all the time, and then you try to go ahead and come up with what you would consider as a mark to try to obtain, and you realize that 100 percent is the goal, it’s hard to say, well, you only did 90 percent. You can’t do that very well in this position.”
Like in the past, as the year has gone on, the CAPC staff continues to shine, Maloney said.
“… We’re seeing it almost on a quarter- by-quarter basis, and when we get to the fourth quarter of this year, this is just full-speed ahead at 100 miles an hour for everyone,” he said.
“Everybody is working at 100 and 101 percent and 102 percent. So, I think where we’re at is I would hope that the commission sees that effort. I think that they do. And I believe that to be fair about where we are, especially in taking a look at what the other cities in the state of Arkansas, what other A&P commissions do, we probably pay less than anybody else does. That really goes across the board from Bentonville to the City of Fayetteville, to the City of Rogers, to Fort Smith. Certainly Hot Springs is way above us, and the City of Little Rock is way above us.
“So, I think where we’re at, we’re in a nice position. We can can continue to grow. I think that’s the one thing. But, from a staff standpoint, this is a very hard staff to replace. So, in order to be able to continue to do the work that we are doing, I hope the commission sees that these rewards are very important.”
Commissioners agreed, with chair Steve Holifield pointing out the town’s high cost of living, and Wilson saying the small-town geography of Eureka Springs shouldn’t be a hindrance. “I do not find [geography] an acceptable excuse when we have $2 million sitting in the bank,” Wilson said, adding that a bonus would help with employee retention. “… It would be very hard to think about somebody replacing Danyelle or Katelyn or Jana or Ty, who came in here and cleaned up a mess that was left behind and deserves a trophy.
“So, I know because I get the feedback and I understand that people are looking at things from solely dollar figures, but if we broke this down hourly, I think people would be aghast. So I very, very strongly advocate for the maximum bonus for this team.”
