Seymour Town Hall.
SEYMOUR — Town officials are moving forward with the process that could result in the hiring of an economic development director.
Last month the Board of Selectmen told its human resources director to update the job description for economic development director, a position in town that has been vacant for more than a year.
With several properties in town, including Tri-Town Plaza, sitting stagnant for years, town officials are hoping to hire an experienced person to lure prospective developers and get grant money.
Seymour has a volunteer economic development commission, but the town doesn’t have a dedicated economic development director. The last consultant was hired in March 2019 through the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, or CERC, but the position was vacated in December 2019 when CERC was longer offering the service to municipalities.
The town’s volunteer commission and government officials had been gearing up for a replacement last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic pumped the brakes on the issue.
The town is now starting the process again, according to First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis.
She said the first step is ensuring there is an updated job description.
Prior to the CERC consultant, the town had former economic development director Fred Messore in place from 2011 to 2017. Messore, a Realtor who worked part-time for Seymour, left in late 2017 for another job, but was involved in several key projects, including the first phase of Seymour’s greenway trail downtown.
Caron Robinson, the chairwoman of the economic development commission, is hopeful the town can make a move soon. It’s ultimately up to the Selectmen to conduct interviews and hire for the position.
“It doesn’t matter to me if we hire someone full-time, part-time, or a consultant, but we do need to do something,” Robinson said at the commission’s December meeting. “We’ve been working on a job description for more than two years, and a list of tasks we’d like see (the new person) complete … and it’s very frustrating.”
The town had previously budgeted about $35,000 to hire someone, but the Selectmen, as well as the commission, agree that figure is not enough money to make the position full-time.
The EDC was also interested in bringing Sheila O’Malley into the role, perhaps in a shared capacity. O’Malley is Ansonia’s economic development director and previously had the job in Derby.
Selectman Christopher Bowen is a former member of the EDC.
“I made it known the position shouldn’t be a part-time position, it should be full-time,” he said. “Hiring someone else’s economic development director is not a good idea … we need a full-time person. I’d like to get some other options on the table.”
And because of the pandemic and the uncertainty of things to come, Selectman Trish Danka had said adding money for the position in the upcoming 2021 – 2022 budget might not be the best idea.
“Right now, with COVID, things are pretty tight for the town, and I don’t think — in this budget season — we should be looking at this at the moment,” Danka said at the Selectmen’s December meeting.
Several Selectmen agreed the town needs to be prepared when the time comes to hire someone.
“We know there’s a need for an economic development director and we know we need to fill this position, but we don’t know what’s going to happen in the next three, six or even nine months,” said Selectman Al Bruno. “But let’s be ready to go, and let’s hire the person that’s best for Seymour.”
In the meantime, the town’s Chief of Staff Rory Burke has been handling all phone calls and inquiries about available properties in town, but during the selectmen’s November meeting, had said he’s not qualified as the go-to person for economic development.
“I’ve had at least four appraisers and real estate people asking what’s available, but I lack the expertise in that, but am trying to connect people where I can,” Burke had said. “We don’t have an inventory of what (land and properties) are available. It’s been challenging, and the longer we wait, we may be missing out on opportunities.”
