The City Council decided to hire a new Redevelopment Agency director, a position they haven't worried about filling for almost four years.
But the decision doesn't signal a drive to breathe new life into the RDA's sagging sails.The new position will combine the duties of the former RDA director with those of the city planner, Reed Boothe, who retires in October.
"We're not hiring a separate director because the agency's current level of activity doesn't justify it," said City Manager Tom Hardy.
That "current level of activity" amounts to a 0-for-5 record in the agency's efforts to revitalize downtown Block 29, between Main and 100 West from Center to 100 South.
Several public hearings and five failed development agreements later, the RDA board - composed of the mayor and City Council - has yet to find a workable plan for the block.
And they're not about to pay for a full-time administrator.
"The workload just doesn't warrant anything more," Councilwoman Barbara Holt said.
Take, as an example, the board's last meeting. Silence and blank stares met Mayor Bob Linnell's request for new ideas.
"There's just nothing workable on the table right now," Holt said.
Last year, she led the effort to kill the RDA, which was scheduled for dissolution Sept. 6. But the plan died after council members learned there was no provision in state law that allowed dissolution.
Holt said she isn't pushing the issue with council members because the RDA isn't active.
"I don't know if you could say the heart isn't beating anymore, but it's at a standstill," she said. "Besides, we went as far as we could. The Legislature has to work with it now."
Almost four years have passed since the city had an RDA director, an absence that has saved taxpayers about $26,000 a year.
The new position will pay up to $27.07 an hour, depending on the person's qualifications.
The position combines the duties of planning, which include code enforcement, with administration of the RDA - tasks that have always "gone hand-in-hand," said Hardy.
"I understand that 80 to 90 percent of the new person's duties will be with planning," Holt said. "There just isn't enough RDA activity to keep someone busy full time."
Hardy has served as the agency's executive director, without additional pay, since former director Randy Sant left to become city manager at Washington Terrace. Lana Hardy has been the agency's administrative assistant for 10 years and will remain in that position when the new planning/RDA director is hired, Tom Hardy said.