It seems that the hiring freeze is lifted only at the discretion of the Board of Supervisors. They can claim hiring freeze for anything they deem unnecessary and lift the freeze when they want to put another toadie in place. Whoops - I fell of the middle of the fence for a moment folks - sorry. I'm just a little irritated at what I read online yesterday at the Star-Tribune's website: it seems as if we now have a new Economic Development Director. I briefly met Mr. Bowman once at a Board meeting and he seemed a nice enough fellow. I am just wondering at his qualifications for a job that pays $80K. He's a National Guard Lt. Col. and I believe I read, a military analyst - and he served on a Board of Supervisors for his previous residence. He has a Masters in Public Administration, and he's a good talker, I guess.
Well, is that it!!!! Most localities that are searching for Economic Development Directors have enough intelligence to know that this position requires indepth economic development and planning experience - and lots of it. Most localities want Certified Economic Developers. Economic Developers go through literally years of training to be able to understand a plethora of information on local, state and federal government levels....and at the point that they are Certified, they have certainly made their way into the economic development networks - which is a huge thing in itself. Unless I find out more - and if I do, I will certainly admit it, but right now it seems that this fellow hasn't even had the Basic Economic Development training class which is usually hosted in Oklahoma or Chapel Hill, and that is the initial training course for developers, nor has he been through the Virginia Institute for Economic Development at Virginia Tech. These are basic courses that even marketing and project managers usually have - and here they are giving directorship and big pay to a fellow that has to start at the bottom of the learning ladder when it comes to economic development....
So, how does his military experience (which I do applaud and appreciate in relationship to service to his country) - how does this give him qualifications needed for this position. The Danville Register and Bee says "Bowman's going to hit the ground running." Running where, I wonder - does he know where to run? Looks like he has run right into the pocket of the Board to me. I shouldn't be surprised. We all know it's a one man show. Give me a break....that's all I can say right now. Just sounds like more of the same old "buddy/buddy" thing going on. What do YOU have to say? Am I wrong?
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4 comments:
Right on target!
You hit the nail on the head with this one. I find it hard to believe that there was no other applicant more qualified for this position. Nothing against our new director but neither military experience (greatly appreciated) nor board of supervisor experience (obviously if you look at our board) qualifies one for the position of Economic Development Director. My question is WHY the huge increase in pay for the new director? Certainly our previous director WASN'T paid enough when compared to other directors of our state but why now???? Oh, that's right, our previous director was a WOMAN. Same old 'good ol boy' system at work. Everyone needs to WAKE UP.
Ok, My 2 cents. They say we are at a hiring freeze. They got rid of Carol Motley and what she was doing, and the Economic Development stuff cause they felt it was not effective or what ever? Then they send out this news release about big news. Gives all the media the impression that a new business or something was coming to town. Then we hear we have a new Economic Development Director. Who will answer to Dan Sleeper. Now isn't that something.
The previous director wasn't a county employee...she was an employee of Pittsylvania County Economic Development, an organization with its own board who received the majority (all?) of its funding from the County. In return, the County got two seats on its board.
The county decided not to renew its funding for PCED. This lack of funding forced PCED to dissolve its presence. The County then decided to bring the economic development director's position in-house as a county employee reporting to the county administrator.
Incidentally, there didn't appear to be any transition plan from PCED to county department...one day, Mrs. Motley was at work...the next, she wasn't. The county didn't take her up on offers to help with the transition to the new department. Just 'game over...thanks for your years...have a nice life'.
Then, five months with no PCED and no economic development director.
Just my $0.02...until the new director creates a strategy for the county north of Chatham, the votes will continue to be 4-3 on every issue related to development...nothing will change...and the citizens who live north of Chatham will not reap any significant benefits (except for a guaranteed 30 minute commute for a decent job).
And the beat goes on...
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