The Teton County Board of Commissioners and the Town of Jackson council unanimously approved a first amendment to the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Joint Powers Agreement to allow the Travel and Tourism Board to hire employees. The amendment replaces prior language that limited the board to professional services contracts with wording that allows the board to hire, fire, discipline and supervise at-will employees under the board’s policies and salary matrix.

Keith Gengrey, chief deputy county attorney, described the narrow amendment: delete the clause that said the board “shall not have employees” and insert authority for the board to employ staff that follow the board’s policies and salary matrix. He said the amendment, once adopted by the boards, will be submitted to the state attorney general for statutory review.

Julie Calder, chair of the Travel and Tourism Board, told the boards the organization has outgrown an independent-contractor model and now manages visitor-impact programs, sustainability initiatives and events funding that together total millions of dollars. Executive Director Krista Valentino and board members said the current mix of five independent contractors, two agency contracts and four service agreements functions like staff, but labor-law limits on control have made the arrangement unsustainable.

Calder said the board chose the “airport” model as an example of a relatively independent entity that sets its own policy and payroll structures while remaining accountable to appointers. Several commissioners and councilors asked whether staff would remain county employees or be hired directly by the board; counsel and board representatives said either model is possible, but the amendment as drafted gives the board authority to employ people directly. Staff noted that practical implementation choices (payroll, WRS participation, insurance, legal representation) will follow and can include using county payroll or contracting for HR services.

Community leaders — including Jackson Hole Chamber CEO Rick Howe, local business leader Mike Giroux and Jackson Hole Air representative Carrie Cooper — spoke in favor of the amendment, saying a staffed, consistent structure would professionalize and stabilize destination-management work. The motion was amended on the floor to insert explicit “at-will” language and then carried unanimously in both the county and town votes.

Next steps: the Travel and Tourism Board will develop job descriptions, a salary matrix and personnel policies; the county attorney’s office will submit the amendment to the state attorney general for approval; and the board will return details to the town and county during the FY-27 budget process before hiring and payroll changes are implemented.