Whitewater: City looks to hire new CDA director; job description, policy clarifications discussed

By Kim McDarison

The Whitewater Common Council Tuesday began a discussion revolving around hiring a new Community Development Authority (CDA)/economic development director and making clarifications to the position’s job description, chain of authority and additional policies governing job performance. 

Earlier this year, the position was vacated first by CDA/Economic Development Director Cathy Anderson and then by interim CDA Director Nathan Theil. 

Anderson resigned from her position as CDA Director, according to a resignation letter submitted to then-City Manager Cameron Clapper, in May. A reason for her resignation was not included in the letter. 

City records show that Theil served as a limited term employee in the role of CDA director between June 1 and Aug. 11. He left the position after receiving a permanent position in Beaver Dam. 

City Manager John Weidl — who advanced Tuesday’s discussion as an agenda item — said he chose to begin the conversation at the council level, with continued discussion planned at an upcoming CDA meeting. He stated that he would plan to return before council after gaining input from the CDA board, offering council a second opportunity to discuss the item before determining a course of action regarding the director’s job description and guiding policies. 

A proposal for contracted services 

In a memo provided to council Tuesday, Weidl wrote that he had reviewed historical files related to the CDA, and city ordinances and resolutions pertaining the the board’s authority, along with a job description for the economic development director (EDD). 

In addition, he wrote, “ I have met in person with previous EDD and community stakeholders, as well as attended multiple CDA meetings and consulted with the city council president, who has also spoken with the chairperson of the CDA.” 

Weidl said that through his research, he formed two conclusions: “The first is that the line of oversight and job duties serving both the CDA and the city is murky at best. There seems to be conflicting reporting roles between the CDA, as an appointed body and extension of the city council, and the city manager, as the appointed chief executive and chief administrator of the city. Further, there seems to be no requirement that the CDA have an executive director or that role be correlated to the EDD. Secondly, there is no organizational or operational framework providing direction to the EDD. In short, unclear reporting and no plan for achieving success.” 

In his memo, Weidl proposed contracting with an economic development professional for 90 to 180 days of service. During that time, he wrote, the professional could assist the city by providing guidance, and a “framework for succeeding in an area that has been underperforming for years.” 

Additionally, Weidl outlined four “action items” a consultant would be tasked to complete before a recruiting process for an EDD could commence, including: 

• Develop a recommendation for a staffing and reporting structure for the city’s economic development platform.

• Design an affordable housing tax incremental financing program based on existing housing studies, a Southern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPAC) report, and best practices taking place across Wisconsin. 

• Develop a market strategies report based on current and projected future economic and demographic data, including a list of strategies and objectives for the next five years. 

• Establish a consistent, measurable and trackable Business Recruitment and Expansion (BRE) platform for use by the city and CDA. 

Weidl proposed that the city set aside the next three to six months to focus on developing a framework for success after which an EDD could be hired. 

He estimated a cost for the economic development professional’s services, as outlined in his memo, at approximately $45,000 for a six-month period, and proposed using savings achieved in EDD wages not paid to fund the contracted services. 

A proposal from Madison-based Redevelopment Resources, offering the economic development professional services of Kristen Fish-Peterson, also was included in Tuesday’s meeting agenda packet. 

Weidl opens discussion 

Conversation Tuesday began with the agenda item identified as an update on vacant CDA director/economic development director position and a request for approval to solicit consulting services for up to six months prior to filling the position. 

Opening the discussion, Weidl said: “We are just going to have a conversation. We will set some direction.”

Weidl said he found some aspects about the relationship between the council and the economic development director’s position “unclear.”  

“My concern is I’m unclear how the city council views the reporting relationship of that position, specifically, I’d like to get some guidance as to how to interact and move forward with the Community Development Authority.”

Weidl said he was looking for clarification about aspects of the position, noting that after doing some research into the background of the position, he had developed an understanding that “the previous manager and the previous person in the economic development director/CDA position, I don’t think saw eye-to-eye on the reporting procedure, and who was accountable to whom, and at what points it was appropriate to work exclusively with the CDA — because I do believe there are many things within the CDA’s purview that is solely for them to execute right on their own terms — there are loans, there are programs, they have their own mission — so the thrust of what I’m trying to put across is I think it might be appropriate to bring in — I don’t have anyone specifically in mind yet — I’ve given you an example — I think someone who has experience in economic development, has experience working with CDAs, to work on meeting with the CDA, work on meeting with the city council, some of the staff, some of the stakeholders and help us determine — answer some of the basic questions for me — including who should be involved in the interview process.”  

He asked: “Should it be panel?” 

Weidl said that while he did not believe it was illegal for a city manager to fill the economic development director’s position, he also did not believe it was appropriate for the city manager to do so without input from various city stakeholders, departments and boards.  

“I want to make sure we’re having these conversations. My intent would be to take whatever is decided here today — as much of a decision as we make — and then go to the CDA and have a conversation with them next,” he said. 

He said he believed the city would benefit from having an outside professional, one whom he described as having “no stake in holding the position, applying for the position, or being here after we decide how we are going to fill the position. Their role would be to work with the CDA, and the city council, and the city manager to determine how best to shape the position and determine its reporting authority.” 

Council members weigh in  

Offering his comments, Councilman Jim Allen, who also serves as the vice president of the CDA, said: “I think you were misled a little bit and maybe in discussion with the previous CDA director. If you had that discussion, you probably shouldn’t have. The CDA is, seems, needs to look somewhat autonomous, but it has to work together with the city as you know. So the city CDA director was part of the management team, and things that came through the CDA were discussed at the management level as they should be. The CDA can’t do anything on its own. It needs the city to do that. Personally, I’d like this to go through the CDA first — I don’t know if you got a hold of (CDA) President (Patrick) Singer, and discussed it with him.”  

Members of the CDA include council representatives Allen and Council President Lisa Dawsey Smith, along with citizen members Singer, Jacob Gildemeister, Joe Kromholz, Jason Gleason and Jon Kachel, according to the city’s website. 

Weidl said he began the discussion at the council level because that is the body to whom the city manager reports. He said he would talk with the CDA board members and then “circle back,” and bring the item before the city council again. 

“I’m happy in the future to do it a different way. I had to start somewhere — right? There’s a chance I’d run the risk that someone on the council would have said: ‘How come you didn’t come to us first?’ So I just picked one,” he said.    

Weidl asked of Allen: “In your explanation, did the CDA director then report to the CDA and not the manager? and then, who did the hiring? Those are all the questions I’m trying to answer, and then what should that be going forward? And I’m open to all sorts of ideas.”  

“We have an ordinance already published. I’ll let some of that be answered by either Larry (Kachel) or Jon (Kachel) who have been in this game for a long time. Both of them have been directors. The CDA director that was terminated was terminated for cause,” Allen said, adding: “I won’t get into it more than that.”  

Offering comments, Councilwoman Brienne Brown said: “My time working with city council, and with CDA, and seeing what’s going on — it’s a mess.” 

She described the proposal offered by Weidl as “great,” adding: “I would love to see more collaboration, because the arguments of who do you go to and who’s in charge, and who reports to who, have been happening for years, and I’m a little sick of it personally. I’d like more clarity on how things work and I think it seems like a good investment of money that’s already sort of sitting there, to try and figure out how to make this work better. We’ve lost people and it just seems like we’ve got 10 years of not really having a CDA director working for us. And that’s 10 years of loss right there that we could have done more.” 

Describing some of the CDA’s history, Allen said “It ebbed and flowed a little bit.” 

In the past, he said, city managers have wanted to “jump in,” adding that he believed “city managers seem to all want to have their fingers in economic development or be the CDA director.” 

He said that contributed to a situation where the CDA ebbed and flowed. 

Weidl said he did not want to be the CDA director.  

“I would like to put someone in that role who very clearly understands the reporting relationship in our shared — there are shared — expectations between both the city, the city manager’s office and the CDA. That’s resoundingly clear to me,” he said. 

Several council members agreed that the CDA director answers to the city manager.  

Addressing Weidl, Allen said: “Policies are set by the CDA board, but the day-to-day operations answers to you.” 

Offering her comments, Dawsey Smith said: “I think that whatever course of action that’s wise to set forth — a sustainable course of development that the community clearly needs — we cannot spend time bogged down in anything at this point.”  

Said Allen: “The CDA is really important because we bring in business, we bring up the tax base and help keep our taxes down, so this is Whitewater’s economic arm — this is really important to the city.” 

Opening comments to members of the public, Whitewater resident Jeff Knight, who described himself as a former CDA chairman, board member, and said he is still serving on the Tech Park board, said he knew personally the individual whom had been identified by Weidl as an example of a economic development professional. 

He said: “I have no problem with her skill or ability. The questions I really dove into when I looked at it — I’m not quite sure you want somebody that’s on a contract doing retention, because it’s all about relationships.” 

He suggested the person “doing those retentions” should be a permanent hire.

“So I had a little problem with that piece of it, and the other piece: I think you guys have done maybe three housing studies already, I think that’s been kind of worked on quite a bit, so I’m not sure — so that’s where I had a little disconnect to where is this coming from? Because it didn’t look like she (the economic development professional identified in Weidl’s memo) was really doing the evolutionary planning, and doing like more as a facilitator, bringing people to talk about the position — the descriptions, the mission, the task force — and I think that’s different from what I’m hearing than what I read in the documents, so from my perspective I think it’s crucial that everybody on this council understands what the CDA does — Brienne’s point is very important — it’s crucial to the CDA. 

“As their mission, there is a need for you to maintain their independence for the potential of a big project coming here and having the need to get some financing, so you will need both bodies to continue — there’s no ability to get rid of it and think you’re going to stay active in the economic development world.” 

Knight said he believed the city needed to concentrate on managing “your grants and loans, and I don’t know how that’s being done, and I think that that’s probably something that could be done without Kristin handling it.” 

Knight continued: “It’s really crucial that you keep those current manage and that file going. In the longterm — I think you miss the window on housing — that’s my personal opinion. I’m not sure how energized you can be would change the market (from) what it is, but I do think having the conversation should go to the CDA next.” 

Said Knight: “I had heard the same thing: that the current CDA chairman didn’t know anything about this, and so, whether that’s true or not, I have no idea, I haven’t talked to Patrick, I put a call in to find out if that’s true. But I really think you want to do that. You guys want to sit down, whether that be it a joint meeting, whether you call it an emergency joint meeting, but I think you need to get the parties together and I do think longterm the city needs to look at your sunset date that you’ve got on committees and appointments. 

“I think that, or you institute a better training program for new people coming on these boards or commissions because the way you sunset people off, you’re losing some pretty qualified positions. Some of the jobs you’ve got in the city are pretty crucial to have some of the institutional knowledge of what’s gone on in the past and why … I think that would make sense for the board to look at longterm: Do you have a good formula when people tap off of these committees? And should you maybe look at, longterm, extending that for another three-year term or something?”

He said training for new CDA members would help alleviate “people getting to the point where they don’t have a clue why they are there or what they are doing, or don’t have any economic development business-related experience of the CDA.”  

Councilwoman Jill Gerber questioned whether the city needed another report, agreeing with Knight that the city already had three housing reports. 

Weidl responding: “It’s the policy — we currently have no policy on how to spend that $1.9 million.” 

His comment referred to money set aside by the city after the closing of Tax Incremental Financing District No. 4, which has been earmarked for housing development. 

Weidl said his proposal would help create policy that “would have the capability of turning that into the actionable housing policy that tells us how we are going to attract and build those houses. It’s taking the information and working to turn that into a policy.”  

He asked: “Are we going to invest in land? Are we going to reimburse for infrastructure? Are we going to provide mortgage assistance? It’s all of those things. 

“We are not doing another housing study. We’ve had plenty,” he said. 

Referencing the proposed contracted professional and the development of a BRE, Weidl said, “The intent is not to have this person doing those meetings. The intend is to help us develop a platform, meaning how many businesses are we targeting a year? How are we tracking that data? Making sure we’re asking systematic questions so we can gather data that actually tells us something. So it isn’t the actual going out and having the meetings, it is helping us put up that structured reporting platform that the person incoming into the position will know what they’re required to hit, meaning I can give a job description that sets the expectation.”  

Allen said that in the past, the BREs have been set by the CDA board, including goals and objectives, for each year. 

Weidl said his next steps would involve going before the CDA board during its next meeting, which will be held Thursday, at the Whitewater Municipal Building, at 5:30 p.m. He said he would plan to bring the discussion back to the city council in January.