DDA toembarrassing' job descriptions, fill two posts
Sep. 20—TRAVERSE CITY — Two new hires will help fill out the short-handed staff at the city's Downtown Development Authority, including a deputy director position that's been vacant for most of the year.
Interviews will be conducted over the next two weeks to name a new deputy director and fill a communications/marketing specialist position that was eliminated by the DDA last year in favor of hiring two consulting firms that have handled the DDA's public outreach efforts over the past year.
The DDA's No. 2 position, formerly titled chief operating officer, has been vacant for more than six months after former COO Harry Burkholder was appointed on an interim basis to fill the chief executive officer post — now known as executive director — that was vacated by Jean Derenzy who opted not to seek renewal of her contract which expired March 1.
Burkholder was given the permanent job in late June, one of two finalists interviewed for the post.
Burkholder said he hopes to have the DDA staff filled out by mid-October, but added that he'll take his time to ensure the selected candidates are a good fit for the organization.
"We're more focused on hiring the right person, rather than hiring a person," he said.
Burkholder said he expects the deputy director's role will be tweaked a bit from when he filled the job. No salary level has been set, but he expects the job will pay in the mid-$80,000 range.
"It will be similar in a lot of ways," he said. "But this is also an opportunity to have the deputy director more involved in our operation."
The DDA also will name a new communications/marketing specialist this fall to fill a position that was eliminated in favor of two consulting contracts approved by the DDA board last September. The DDA hired Greenlight Marketing based in Traverse City for $90,000 to highlight the DDA's general projects and initiatives across multiple outlets including media releases, videos, social media channels, event posters, website content and more. The work included helping promote the downtown through the Grandview Park reconstruction project, including production of several "red carpet" videos that promoted several downtown businesses through the construction season.
The DDA also approved a $50,000 contract with Bright Spark Strategies for marketing efforts related to its Moving Downtown Forward Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan, which the DDA approved in August after months of delays and is awaiting action from the City Commission. Both those marketing contracts expired at the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year on June 30, and the DDA agreed to bring those services back in-house in this year's budget.
Burkholder said the salary for the communications/marketing specialist is expected to be in the mid-$50,000 range. Burkholder has the authority to make both hires, which are not subject to approval by the DDA board.
Burkholder also has been tasked with updating the DDA's various job descriptions, which were criticized by city Commissioners Heather Shaw and Jackie Anderson when the commission approved Burkholder's new contract earlier this month. Both Shaw and Anderson voted against the contract because of the outdated job description.
Shaw called the job description that accompanied Burkholder's contract a "horrible embarrassment," counting more than 20 typographical, spelling and grammatical errors in the document. The job description also contained a reference to the DDA's administration of city parking operations which are being shifted to city commission oversight this fall.
"There are errors all over the place (in the job description)," Shaw said. "I don't know who could've written this. It's embarrassing."
Burkholder said the executive director job description was updated by personnel consultant Nate Geinzer — the former interim city manager — during the job search to fill the position, but that a previous version of the document ended up in front of the city commission.
Burkholder said the updated job description will be largely based on the work developed by Geinzer during the executive director search. The DDA board is scheduled to review the updated document at Friday's monthly meeting. DDA Vice Chair Scott Hardy also told city commissioners that Burkholder will update all of the job descriptions in the office in the coming weeks.
