Role of community development director explained in first Q & A

 Editor’s note: This week features the first question received in a joint effort of The Imperial Republican and city of Imperial that fields questions from residents about city operations. City officials and department heads will answer the questions, but will not respond to “opinion” questions or those that are political in nature. Questions from the public can be sent to Managing Editor Jan Schultz at her schultzjan@jpipapers.com.

Question: Can Imperial afford the $70,000 salary for the economic development director position? Explain how the city is getting $70,000 in benefits for that expense? Also am curious about the training/certification he has for the position?
 
Answer: Both economic development and community development are merged into our Community Development Director position, and are funded in several ways, with no funds coming from property taxes. There is no training/certification required to be hired to this position other than a desire to make the community a better place to live and work.
    There is a three-year economic development certification program that is offered once a year, and due to COVID, was cancelled last year and not rescheduled. Our Director attended the 2021 conference session via Zoom, and will hope to attend in-person over the next two years to receive the certification.
    The benefits the City receives have already begun. Since the current director took the position just over one year ago, he has been successful in obtaining over $147,000 in grant funding for the City of Imperial.
    In addition to managing the city’s Cornerstone Development property, he has redesigned the City’s website, started a marketing campaign for our community to attract new residents and businesses with the ability to access high speed internet, developed a business assistance plan that benefits local businesses at zero cost to them, assisted community organizations and businesses to obtain grants and programs through the pandemic and helped connect homeowners with resources to make necessary improvements to their homes.
    He is constantly looking for things that benefit citizens and the community as a whole. He welcomes anyone to call him with ideas or suggestions to continue to make Imperial a highly desirable place to live, work or visit, or for assistance improving or expanding local businesses.