A familiar face is taking on a new role within the Lake Barkley State Resort Park.
Announced at Tuesday’s Cadiz Rotary Club meeting, Ashley Johnson will be the next assistant manager for the long-beloved facility and campus — serving alongside Manager David Miller as essentially a second-in-command.
After a lengthy 10-year career with the Pennyrile Area Development District in Christian County, Johnson has served the park as its sales representative for the past three years.
Now, her job description changes a bit, and it’s something she said she’s ready to embrace.
Like many employees with the park, Johnson has had to embrace and work through one of the more unique and challenging three-year stretches in the property’s 52-year history.
In April 2020, the Lodge began serving as a quarantine unit for those with COVID-19 but didn’t need hospitalization.
In November 2021, a Saturday morning fire resulted in several guest rooms becoming extensively damaged.
And less than a month later, devastating tornadoes in west Kentucky forced families to quickly find temporary shelter — with Lake Barkley serving as one of those critical, life-saving communities.
Helping handle some of these unique problems likely prepared Johnson for further difficulties, and she said there are some unique hurdles in the coming months.
Outside of assisting Miller with daily duties, Johnson will be tasked with helping manage and control the overall guest experience at the park. This includes everything from promoting staff morale to executing some of the finer points of operations. She will serve as “Manager-On-Duty” when Miller is unavailable.
In the immediacy, Johnson said the first step in her new role is to facilitate the rebuilding process of the damaged wing — in order to help get the park back to full capacity.
Staff morale, she added, is something she’s also going to keep considerable focus.
No official timetable has been released regarding the park’s renovation process to be complete, but the 2022 biennium budget from Governor Andy Beshear and the Kentucky General Assembly allocated considerable funds to be injected into the state’s parks system.
