Mayor Carolyn Kirk has proposed adding a number of new positions as part of an economically-driven restructuring of the city's Community Development Department.
Those positions would include an economic development director, a marketing and events project manager, a visitors center coordinator, city planner, and two additional project managers. The current Community Development Department has 10 positions, including that of department head Sarah Garcia.
The new positions and the department's current spots are and would be funded both through grants and through the city's general fund and operations budget.
Kirk said the ideal rollout would cost about $160,000 more than the department's current $200,000 budget. The administration, she said, doesn't expect all of that to come in fiscal 2013. But, she added, she would like to see the economic development director brought on board sooner, rather than later.
"The pipeline (of projects) is starting to fill up and we need to staff accordingly," Kirk said.
The proposal goes before the City Council for a first look next week. The plan requires Council approval.
While Kirk has discussed the potential for creating an economic development director's post in the past, the move comes with Gloucester's economic development expertise in the spotlight.
That's because the city's Request for Proposals deadline for the city-owned I-4, C-2 waterfront property passed last week without a single bidder submitting an application for potential development.
Some city officials — notably City Councilor and former mayor Bruce Tobey — have asked for a new look and perhaps a new push to reform the state's inclusion of the site in its Designated Port Area, which comes with several development restrictions, other observers have also questioned whether the city had taken the needed steps to reach out to potential developers and convey how the site could work for them.
Ten potential developers had taken out the city's RFP packet; Community Development Director Garcia and other officials are now reaching out to those developers to try to learn why every one of them backed off.
Kirk said that an economic development director will represent the city to businesses in and outside of Gloucester. That person, she added, would be the central point of contact for businesses, and handle both marketing the city, and economic development regulations, like Tax Increment Finance (TIF) agreements.
"It's a single point of contact with the city," Kirk said.
Kirk's proposal also calls for pulling Garcia's community development director's position fully into the operations budget and under the general fund.
Garcia's job to date has been funded partly through the city and partly through a state Seaport Advisory Council grant. The city opened that position in 2008, Kirk's first year in office; it had been vacant beforehand.
The grant had essentially dictated Garcia's focus, and has kept her working mostly on harbor-related matters, said Kirk.
The Seaport Advisory Council also provided $800,000 of the $1.5 million the city used to acquire the I-4, C-2 property in June 2010.
Steven Fletcher can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or at sfletcher@gloucestertimes.com.
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