CRESTVIEW — Soon, the Community Redevelopment Agency and Main Street Crestview Association will share a director.
By splitting the new position between the CRA and Main Street, CRA board members — who are also sitting City Council members — will benefit from a full-time professional adviser, they said.
Meanwhile, the association can maintain its accreditation with the state Main Street program, which requires a full-time program manager.
Main Street President Ellis Conner hopes to have candidates vetted and a director in place by Oct. 1, which starts the new fiscal year.
CRA members voted 4-1 Monday to hire a leader for both entities. Board members Joe Blocker, Thomas Gordon, Shannon Hayes and Mickey Rytman voted in favor of the proposal. Robyn Helt cast the lone dissenting vote.
It's a triumph for Conner, a former city councilman who has tried for two years to get a full-time program manager for the association.
JOB DESCRIPTION
The CRA board — using Conner’s proposed job description as a starting point — will meet in a workshop to refine the position's responsibilities.
The workshop date has not yet been set, City Clerk Betsy Roy said.
Rytman, a past Main Street president, said he wanted the position to report to the CRA to assure board oversight.
The previous Main Street director had a contract, “and they can come and go whenever they want to. If we're going to spend the money, I want some control,” Rytman said.
The board agreed to fund the position as a city employee, as the Main Street program coordinator had been prior to the contract position.
Helt opposed the measure because she felt the request for the $40,000 a year position was not properly phrased on the meeting agenda, and because she felt Ellis’ request did not represent the entire Main Street Crestview Association board's consensus.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Main Street, Community Redevelopment Agency to share a director