COMMISSIONER FOR PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Kate Mostaccio
ccSCOOP News
With a number of countywide economic development and planning activities currently underway, the county Board of Supervisors recently created a management position that would provide oversight of both areas and consolidate them into one department.
“Basically, as the title lays out, the position consolidates the county’s long-range planning activities, as well as its economic development initiatives under one department or under one position,” said Board Chairman Art Baer (R-Hillsdale). “This person would be responsible for helping the Board of Supervisors create and implement a strategic plan and would be responsible for the county economic development plans, both short and longer term.”
|
|
|
The advertisement for the position asked that resumes be returned by September 24. Baer said Wednesday the search is still on. Requirements for the position include “a Bachelors Degree in planning or related field with at least ten (10) years of administrative or consultant experience in the field of metropolitan, regional, county or municipal planning, or a Masters Degree with at least eight (8) years of related experience,” according to the advertisement for the job.
Baer said this person would also oversee projects and initiatives that were in an “incubation period” and not quite ready to be proposed or moved forward on.
“This person will also manage within his or her department new initiatives by the county, almost in an incubation mode,” he said. “Things like a possible transportation department, these types of activities. They start out in the Planning and Economic Development Department, and as they become more mature they would move out into the separate departments. Like an incubation area for new initiatives before they are mature enough to stand on their own.”
The decision to create this position now was based on a need to streamline the system.
“It was the consensus of the board that we needed to integrate better our county planning with the economic development activities going on,” he said. “They have been handled separately upon until this point. We thought it was important to have both sides of the house working on common directives.”
|
