Palm Springs Gets Second Interim Head
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 5/23/2005
The Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention & Visitors Authority has named Steve Morris its interim president, ending speculation about who would fill the temporary slot until a permanent replacement is named.
Morris, who recently retired as president and CEO of Seattle's Convention & Visitors Bureau, will lead the California desert community's visitors authority until a search committee settles on a replacement for former president Michael Fife. Fife retired in late March, shortly after an audit uncovered his improper use of a car allowance.
Authority spokesman Mark Graves said it could take up to six months for the search committee to come up with a candidate.
Morris is the Palm Springs group's second interim president. In April, its governing body named Gary Sloan, a retired city manager from nearby La Mirada, Calif., to the post. But Sloan resigned barely a week after accepting the $100-per-hour assignment, citing problems with high blood pressure.
Morris, 55, started work in Palm Springs on May 16. He will be paid $16,656 per month for the next three months, and $20,000 per month after that until a permanent replacement is found, Graves said.
The Palm Springs CVA is responsible for drawing visitors and conventions to eight local cities and an unincorporated area collectively known as the Coachella Valley.
According to the Desert Sun newspaper, auditors found that Fife — who had been with the CVA since 1989 and involved in the region's tourism industry since 1972 — claimed a $650 monthly car allowance at the same time he had exclusive use of an agency car, in violation of his employment contract.
