Minutes - Council - 04/13/2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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7.11: Consider Resolution #10-04-XXX Authorizing Staff to Begin the Recruitment Process for an Economic Development/Marketing Manager and Authorizing a Reorganization in Administrative Services Councilmember Look stated with the preliminary numbers received from the County, it appeazed there would be considerably less fends coming to the City. He indicated Mr. Sullivan had resigned from the City and he wanted to discuss the hiring of a new person in light of the budget concerns. Deputy City Administrator Nelson summarized the staff report. Councilmember Elvig stated the EDA felt so strongly about finding a person for this position that they crafted a motion. He noted there were a lot of properties that needed attention, in addition to the Town Center. He believed this was a critical position to be filled. Councilmember Dehen stated his concern was that the Council first received the resignation of Mr. Sullivan in February and at that time, the City had not hired a development manager. He believed the time to bring this up was when the City had determined what they were going to do with marketing and economic development. He indicated now that the City had hired an outside source for this, staff now wanted to hire someone in-house. He believed this should have been addressed in February or eazly March. He asked if the developer manager should handle some of these duties. Councilmember Wise reiterated this might not be a long-term fix with respect to the budget, but maybe this could be an additional savings that the City could use short teen. Councilmember Look stated he had voted in favor at the HRA meeting, but after receiving the County numbers, he was changing his opinion because the budget was going to be a much bigger problem than originally anticipated. He noted the City had hired a development team and he believed there was an amount of overlap and the City needed to utilize that overlap sufficiently. He noted the City had also put interns to good use and he believed there were interns that would like this type of an internship. He asked staff to investigate bringing in interns for this position as a short-term solution. Councilmember Jeffrey stated he had voted on this at the Personnel Cornrnittee. He noted there was a development team focusing on the town center and the surrounding area, but there was a lot more azeas that needed to be addressed in the City and that was what this person would be dealing with. He believed it was important to hire a person and cut back in other areas. He did not want to lose the opportunity to keep and retain business outside of the town center and surrounding area. Councilmember Elvig stated the salary for this person would not be taken out of the general budget. He indicated there would be a lot of projects sitting idle until this position was filled. He stated the issue with interns was the supervision they required. He wanted to bring in someone who would bring in revenues into the City. City Council / Apri113, 2010 Page 11 of 14