Cody business owner and developer Jake Ivanoff has some strong opinions about what the Park County Travel Council can do better. Now, he has the opportunity to try and turn some of his frustrations into action. 

At a Feb. 18 meeting, Park County commissioners chose Ivanoff over three other candidates to fill a travel council board position recently vacated by Ruffin Prevost. 

Before the vote, Ivanoff said he felt the council did not effectively get the message that the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park had not been impacted by the substantial flooding that occurred in 2022.

“We had almost 150 cancellations that first day,” said Ivanoff, a co-owner of the Scout Inn in downtown Cody. “They could have done a lot better job letting people know the East Gate was open.”

He also expressed frustration that the travel council seems to be measuring its success by the amount of web traffic it generates, versus what he considers to be success as a local hotel owner — filling up rooms. 

“We’re paying way too much money for clicks,” he said, adding, “If we’re up 17% on clicks, shouldn’t we be up 17% on our hotels?”

Ivanoff told the commissioners that he really wants to be on the board.

“I think it directly affects my business and being a part of that would ease my mind,” he said.

Commissioner Kelly Simone asked all the applicants whether the travel council’s marketing should be done by companies as local as possible. In his response, Ivanoff quipped, “I think ad dollars should be spent in the U.S.”

The bulk of the travel council’s advertising has for years been handled by the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada company VERB, which has recently drawn more scrutiny. 

However, at the Feb. 18 monthly travel council meeting, PCTC Executive Director Ryan Hauck said the haul of eight awards the council received from a national tourism conference in New York City were due in part to the work of the Canadian firm.

“That’s a big deal for the staff as well as VERB,” he said. “People wonder why we use them; that's one of the reasons right there.”

Ivanoff’s term doesn’t start until March, but he sat in on the meeting as a member of the public. 

This was Ivanoff’s second attempt in a little more than a year to get on the travel council board. He was one of the applicants in 2024 when longtime member John Parsons’ spot was up. In the end, commissioners decided to stick with Parsons for another term. 

This time Ivanoff was one of four applicants, alongside two relatively new Cody residents — longtime marketing executive Teresa Bacal and successful startup owner Stephen Elias — and longtime Buffalo Bill Center of the West Director of Revenue Bruce Sauers. 

Multiple commissioners said that, while they appreciated newer residents applying and urged them to continue to be involved, this position would benefit from a longtime resident with more connections. 

Chair Dossie Overfield said Sauers’ experience with handling loads of tourists and his industry connections would be a big benefit. However, Commissioner Lloyd Thiel said having someone whose businesses are affected by what the travel council does would be preferable. 

“I would like to see Jake,” Thiel said. “He’s shown interest before, and he may stir stuff up. But he wants to do this.”

The board unanimously picked Ivanoff.

Bonner family legacy

While Ivanoff must wait until April for his first full board meeting as a member (there is no March meeting), Powell Tribune General Manager Toby Bonner attended his first meeting as a council member last Thursday.

It was joked that Bonner had a seat saved, as a member of the family has been on the board for decades — including his mother Diane Bonner, his father Dave Bonner and his brother-in-law, Powell Mayor John Wetzel.

After 15 years of serving on the travel board, Wetzel decided to depart this year and recommended Toby Bonner as his replacement. The Powell City Council unanimously confirmed the choice in January.

Hauck said he plans to honor Wetzel for his service at a March city council meeting.