The town is once again in the market for an economic development director.
The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Wednesday to accept a recommendation from the Economic Development Advisory Committee that the town hire a part-time director — or consultant — as soon as possible.
The position will pay $42,000 a year and require 19.5 hours of work per week. The town will not provide benefits.
An economic development director helps to market the town and attract industry and business. The idea is to encourage smart growth so the town isn’t relying completely on residential property taxes to keep the town going.
Seymour’s previous part-time economic director, John Criscuolo, left about two years ago to take a full-time job at Yale University. The position has been vacant since.
“Tomorrow isn’t soon enough to hire someone,” said Joe Cass, a member of the Economic Development Commission, who spoke at the Board of Selectmen meeting at Town Hall.
The hope is to attract a semi-retired worker who understands it is a part-time position and is satisfied with that status. Employee retention is important, said Selectman W. Kurt Miller.
“With a part-time person, we are just training somebody to be someone else’s full-time economic director,” Miller said.
First Selectman Paul Roy said there will be discussion about a possible performance incentive reward program, to help keep the person satisfied with the job so they don’t leave like the last time.
Those incentives remain to be worked out though. In the meantime, there is money in the budget to hire a consultant as soon as possible.
The idea is to advertise for both a director and a consultant, and “see what kind of applicants we get,” said Bob Rich, a member of the advisory committee.
The consultant, director or whatever the town ends up with would keep tabs on what properties are available in town, have many contacts in the business and development community, and also be able to persuade companies that are already here to stay and even expand.
They must be dedicated to Seymour alone, said Mike Horbal, a member of the Economic Development Commission.
“If you want to see economic development in this town, we needed someone who is knowledgeable who is fighting for Seymour every day,” Horbal said.
