Tourism bureau director fired

Published 1:37 pm Wednesday, August 21, 2024

SEAVIEW — A week after an investigation was launched into alleged misuse of funds at the Pacific County Tourism Bureau, the oversight board terminated Katja Spitz as director. A formal investigation is still unfolding.

Allegations of misused funds came to light on Aug. 6 after other bureau employees discovered apparent financial inconsistencies. The board was immediately notified and started an internal inquiry the same day.

This examination concluded that the allegations were accurate. The board placed Spitz on administrative leave on Aug. 7; she had been on vacation through Aug. 6.

“After we did that investigation, we deemed that it was true — that there had been financial misuse that occurred,” board chair Madeline Matson said. “Last week, we terminated her employment as of Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024.”

Efforts on Aug. 21 to reach Spitz for comment were unsuccessful and she has not responded since then.

Pull Quote

‘We realize that the visitors bureau is a steward of community funding, so we take this very seriously. We are also reviewing all of our internal procedures to figure out how to make this not happen in the future and what we may change moving forward.’

Madeline Matson, interim tourism bureau director

It is unclear how much money may have been misused. A report in the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office’s weekly media log for Aug. 15 estimated embezzlement of between $10,000 and $100,000.

“We are still doing that investigation, and we have turned it over to an insurance company,” Matson said. “We are still working on what the final amount is, and we have also turned it over to the local authorities.”

A criminal inquiry could take several weeks. If charges are filed, depending on the outcome of the investigation and the amount potentially misused, Spitz could potentially face felony charges of theft or embezzlement — the level of felony depends on how much was misused.

“We are taking this very seriously and we have from the second it was brought to our attention,” Matson said. “We realize that the visitors bureau is a steward of community funding, so we take this very seriously. We are also reviewing all of our internal procedures to figure out how to make this not happen in the future and what we may change moving forward.”

In the meantime, the board voted to have Matson fill in as bureau director for the next 10-12 weeks while they search for a new director. Matson wears many hats, including director of the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum and board member at the Ocean Beach Hospital.

Spitz was hired to take over the county’s official destination marketing arm in October 2022, after founding and running her own tour company in Las Vegas for the previous two years. That foray came after she spent nearly nine years with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority as the organization’s international market executive.

The tourism bureau is a private entity supported by lodging taxes and other funding, and is overseen by a board primarily comprising of private individuals engaged in some way in the local hospitality industry. Its former visitor center in Seaview was converted to office space in spring 2023 as the bureau changed its focus to marketing the county beyond this immediate area.