TOURISM & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
COORDINATOR
Location
128 E. Market Street, Bluffton City Hall, Bluffton, Indiana 46714
Administrative Supervisor
Director, Wells County Economic Development Corporation
Tourism Oversight
Wells County Tourism Commission
Employment Status
Full-Time
Position Summary
The Tourism & Community Development Coordinator serves a dual role: advancing Wells County tourism and supporting the countywide economic development mission of the Wells County Economic Development Corporation (WCEDC).
Approximately 50% of the position is dedicated to tourism. Tourism work is guided by an annual plan, budget priorities, and performance measures approved by the Wells County Tourism Commission. The remaining 50% supports economic development priorities assigned by the WCEDC Director. The 50/50 allocation is an annual planning target and will be reviewed quarterly against actual workload and funding.
The position serves all Wells County communities. Tourism resources should be deployed according to visitor opportunity, existing and emerging tourism assets, adopted priorities, and measurable impact—not by an expectation of equal activity in every geographic area.
The Coordinator is expected to convene, connect, market, and support. The position works through the expertise and authority of municipalities, parks departments, downtown organizations, agricultural organizations, schools, businesses, nonprofits, and event committees rather than replacing the organizations responsible for operating facilities, programs, or events.
Governance, Accountability & Allocation
Administrative Supervision
- The WCEDC Director provides day-to-day supervision, work scheduling, human-resources administration, and direction of economic development responsibilities.
- The Tourism Commission does not manage routine personnel matters but retains authority over the tourism strategy, budget priorities, major campaigns, and expected tourism outcomes.
Tourism Direction and Evaluation
- The Tourism Commission approves the annual tourism work plan, destination marketing plan, tourism budget priorities, and tourism performance measures.
- The Tourism Commission Chair or a designated Commission committee provides documented input on the Coordinator’s tourism performance as part of the annual evaluation.
- Material changes to the approved tourism work plan or the planned allocation of tourism resources require concurrence between the WCEDC Director and Tourism Commission Chair or designee.
Time and Funding Accountability
- The Coordinator maintains reasonable time, project, and expense records sufficient to distinguish tourism work from economic development work.
- Compensation, benefits, administrative expenses, and project costs funded by innkeeper-tax revenue must correspond to tourism-related work and eligible tourism purposes.
- The blended structure will be formally reviewed after the first 12 months to determine whether the allocation, reporting structure, staffing level, and performance measures remain appropriate.
Primary Responsibilities
Tourism Development (Approximately 50%)
Tourism Strategy & Commission Support
- Develop an annual tourism work plan and destination marketing plan for Tourism Commission consideration and approval.
- Prepare Tourism Commission agendas, reports, budget materials, and project updates in coordination with the Commission Chair.
- Provide quarterly reports comparing completed work, expenditures, outcomes, and next-quarter priorities to the approved tourism plan.
- Research tourism trends, grants, regional partnerships, and destination-development opportunities relevant to Wells County.
Destination Marketing
- Manage and strengthen the Visit Wells County tourism brand consistent with Tourism Commission direction.
- Produce campaigns highlighting attractions, restaurants, lodging, parks, trails, shopping, public art, heritage, recreation, and visitor-oriented events.
- Manage tourism website content, social media, newsletters, visitor communications, and media outreach.
- Develop visitor guides, itineraries, maps, promotional materials, photography, and digital content.
- Prioritize outreach beyond Wells County when the objective is to attract visitors, overnight stays, and new spending.
Countywide Partnerships & Coordination
- Build working relationships with Bluffton, Ossian, Markle, Uniondale, rural communities, lodging properties, restaurants, retailers, attractions, and recreation providers.
- Coordinate with Bluffton NOW, Ossian Revitalization, Markle organizations, the Wells County Chamber of Commerce, parks and recreation departments, agricultural organizations, schools, and regional tourism partners.
- Maintain regular communication with visitor-facing organizations and attend appropriate tourism meetings throughout Wells County and the region.
- Identify opportunities to connect multiple communities or attractions through countywide itineraries and collaborative campaigns.
Tourism Activation & Event Support
Support visitor-generating events, attractions, and experiences by strengthening marketing, partnerships, visitor services, and tourism outcomes. The Coordinator’s role is to support and amplify the responsible host organization—not automatically assume operational control.
- Identify events and experiences with realistic potential to attract nonresident attendance, overnight stays, or visitor spending.
- Provide destination marketing, cross-promotion, visitor information, itinerary development, and coordination with lodging, dining, retail, and attractions.
- Work with the subject-matter experts and host organizations responsible for permits, public safety, facility operations, vendors, volunteers, setup, cleanup, and event execution.
- Assume a direct event-management role only when responsibilities, authority, funding, risk, and expected deliverables are defined in a written agreement approved by the Tourism Commission and the responsible host organization.
- Priority areas may include agricultural and agritourism experiences; trails and outdoor recreation; community festivals; culinary and farm-to-table experiences; sports tourism; downtown destinations and events; and recreation-oriented promotions.
Destination Development
- Identify opportunities to increase overnight stays, length of visit, repeat visitation, and local visitor spending.
- Work with partners to improve visitor readiness, wayfinding, destination information, customer experience, and tourism packaging.
- Support development and promotion of agritourism, outdoor recreation, sports tourism, arts and culture, heritage tourism, and downtown experiences.
- Recommend strategic use of tourism funds based on visitor impact, market opportunity, feasibility, and alignment with the approved tourism plan.
Tourism Data & Performance Measurement
- Track appropriate measures such as website use, campaign reach, visitor-guide distribution, event attendance, visitor origin, lodging activity, partnerships, and grant results.
- Develop practical methods to estimate tourism impact without overstating results or relying only on social-media activity.
- Use data and partner feedback to refine annual priorities and recommend continuation, modification, or discontinuation of programs and campaigns.
Economic Development Support (Approximately 50%)
Project Coordination
- Assist the WCEDC Director with economic development, industrial recruitment, redevelopment, site-development, housing, and community-development projects.
- Coordinate meetings, maintain project records, prepare presentations, track milestones, and complete assigned follow-up actions.
- Maintain confidentiality and professional discipline when supporting business prospects, developers, employers, and public-sector partners.
Marketing & Communications
- Manage WCEDC social media, newsletters, website content, brochures, promotional materials, annual reports, and organizational communications.
- Assist with Business in Focus articles and other business or community-development communications.
- Maintain available-building, site, demographic, workforce, and community information used in economic development marketing.
Business Retention, Expansion & Workforce
- Support business visits, existing-industry outreach, Manufacturing Day, business-appreciation activities, and employer communications.
- Coordinate with Area 18 Career Center; Bluffton-Harrison, Norwell, and Southern Wells schools; Ivy Tech; Purdue Fort Wayne; AWMA; Freedom Academy; Northeast Indiana Works; and Wells County employers.
- Support internships, work-based learning, career fairs, employer connections, and other approved workforce initiatives.
Housing, Redevelopment & Community Development
- Support housing and redevelopment initiatives through research, meeting coordination, project tracking, presentations, funding research, and developer assistance.
- Assist with community-development initiatives that support business investment, workforce attraction, quality of place, and countywide economic competitiveness.
Grant & Administrative Support
- Assist with grant research, applications, reporting, deadline tracking, reimbursement documentation, and project files.
- Prepare WCEDC Board packets and support Board and committee meetings.
- Maintain databases, track organizational metrics, and assist with budgeting and reporting.
- Perform other duties consistent with the position’s purpose, approved work plans, and documented tourism/economic-development allocation.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree preferred in tourism, marketing, communications, public administration, business, community development, hospitality, parks and recreation, or a related field. Equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
Experience working with local government, destination marketing, tourism organizations, economic development, downtown organizations, nonprofit partners, community events, or multi-jurisdictional initiatives is preferred.
Desired Skills
- Destination marketing and brand management
- Project management and organizational discipline
- Partnership development and facilitation
- Writing, public speaking, and professional communication
- Event-support planning and visitor-experience development
- Social media, website management, and digital content
- Grant research, writing, administration, and reporting
- Budget awareness, recordkeeping, and performance measurement
- Photography and basic visual-content production
- Canva, Microsoft Office, and website-management tools
- Adobe Creative Suite or comparable design tools preferred
Personal Characteristics
- Self-directed and accountable
- Highly organized and able to manage competing priorities
- Collaborative and respectful of partner expertise and organizational boundaries
- Creative, practical, and outcome-oriented
- Professional, diplomatic, and comfortable working in public settings
- Able to communicate across municipalities, boards, businesses, nonprofits, and residents
- Detail-oriented while maintaining strategic perspective
- Passionate about Wells County and committed to countywide service
Work Schedule
Generally Monday through Friday. Occasional evenings, weekends, travel, community events, festivals, tourism meetings, economic development events, and board or commission meetings are required.
Benefits
The Wells County Economic Development Corporation may offer competitive salary, health insurance, retirement plan, paid holidays, paid time off, professional development, mileage reimbursement, and performance-based compensation, subject to adopted employment policies and the final employment agreement.
Performance Expectations
Annual performance measures will be established jointly for the two functional areas. Measures should focus on completed work and meaningful outcomes—not activity counts alone.
Tourism Measures May Include
- Completion of the Tourism Commission-approved annual work plan and budget priorities
- Growth in qualified tourism website traffic and engagement with visitor-oriented content
- Effectiveness of destination campaigns, visitor guides, itineraries, and partner promotions
- Documented support for visitor-generating events and experiences
- Evidence of nonresident attendance, overnight stays, visitor spending, or improved visitor experience where reasonably measurable
- Tourism partnerships established or strengthened across Wells County
- Grant funding or outside resources secured for tourism purposes
- Timely quarterly reporting, budget discipline, and accurate time/project allocation
Economic Development Measures May Include
- Assigned project milestones completed accurately and on schedule
- Business-retention visits and follow-up actions supported
- Economic development marketing and communications delivered
- Workforce, housing, redevelopment, and community-development initiatives supported
- Grant applications, reports, and project documentation completed
- Board, committee, database, and organizational support delivered reliably
First-Year Structural Review
At the end of the first 12 months, the WCEDC Director and Tourism Commission will review actual time allocation, funding allocation, tourism deliverables, economic development deliverables, partner feedback, and organizational effectiveness. The review will determine whether the blended position should continue as structured or be modified.
