Tourism North Bay is back to square one in its search for a tourism officer after their chosen candidate, Trista Verbiwski resigned after just three days.
“Unfortunately, due to a personal issue, she wasn’t able to fill the duties of the role and decided to resign,” said Jake Lacourse, president of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce. “We wish her all the best, but we’re excited to go back to the tending process.”
The city’s new tourism effort, Tourism North Bay, has been in search for a full-time tourism officer since before it was incorporated early this year. In an effort to rebrand North Bay as a tourism destination, local community shareholders have banded together under this new tourism banner.
Since its inception, Tourism North Bay has sought a face and a name to take on the mantle of reforming local tourism and Verbiwski had started on July 26, but Tourism North Bay will have to start its search again.
Lacourse, however, said this isn’t a major setback to their efforts, since they are aware of other quality candidates and it hasn’t stopped their current initiatives from moving forward.
“We want to be as transparent as possible,” he said, noting their decision to post the job publicly again in place of contacting previous candidates. “There may also be some people who couldn’t apply then, who may apply now, including some of our good candidates.”
Lacourse said the posting will close at the end of August and expects the selection process within two weeks, followed by interviews near the end of September. Depending on the candidate, the tourism officer position could be filled as early as the start of October.
“In the meantime, we’ve reverted to our volunteer board, which was in place before (Verbiwski) started,” Lacourse said, noting some volunteer initiatives in the works. “We have a winter tourism video in the works that we’ll be finalizing, so we’re moving forward.”
