Warsaw Creating New Position Of Director Of Community Development
October 6, 2020 at 4:29 a.m.
Warsaw Creating New Position Of Director Of Community Development
By David [email protected]
The maximum biweekly wage for the director of community development in the Economic and Redevelopment Department would be $3,192.31, or $83,000 per year. The salary would be the third highest in city government. The council approved the ordinance on first reading Monday and will be asked to approve the ordinance on second and final reading Oct. 19.
Mayor Joe Thallemer explained, “Our organizational and operational assessment this year ... some of these recommendations that were made were so important that I’m proposing that we move ahead with one such of these reorganizational steps.”
For the assessment, Baker Tilly looked at Warsaw and compared it to five or six similar-sized communities in Indiana. “And our community is looking at about a 10.6% increase since 2010. And that’s an estimate. We’re certainly not done with the Census. But we’re looking at a significant increase in our population,” Thallemer said, while the other “peer” cities are averaging anywhere from a 1.6 to about a 5% growth.
“So we’ve clearly been on a trajectory of growth, and, obviously, we’ve talked a little bit about the importance of the assessed value, spreading that tax burden out to a broader area, dropping the tax rate. We saw that last year. But with growth also comes the demand for services, the larger footprint, and we’re going to see department-wide this issue: police, fire, street department, sewer and building and plan. Looking at the growth, zoning issues, permitting. We’re just behind and I think the building and plan is just the one showing the most need,” Thallemer said.
Baker Tilly said building and plan, and other departments, are at capacity, but it won’t start affecting their productivity until they get beyond the point where they can handle it, and then city services will start to suffer.
“And we’ve seen some of that already. We’ve got to take action,” Thallemer said. “So the recommendation from Baker Tilly was to restructure the building and plan department and split the economic development and redevelopment activities out into their own department ... this is the one I wanted to focus on tonight.”
He said he wanted the salary to be more attractive as the city tries to attract someone to come into and run the new department “at a competitive wage.”
Thallemer said he looked at communities of Warsaw’s size to come up with a dollar figure that would consistent with what’s being offered regionally and statewide while still reflective of the growth the city has enjoyed.
“That growth is creating the need for more redevelopment. It’s not just forging ahead and growing more, it’s now deciding what we need to do with that growth we’ve enjoyed the last 10 years,” Thallemer said.
The community development director would oversee economic development and redevelopment, housing, “these are things that are separate from the day-to-day activities of the building and plan department,” which looks at issues of zoning, building and code violations and such.
“And there are some improvements that are being considered. We’re looking at potentially another GIS coordinator and potentially someone else to help get an automated permitting system going. But tonight, I want to focus on getting that community development director’s salary a little bit more competitive,” Thallemer said.
He said the $83,000 is up from the $74,000 that was originally in the salary ordinance.
Human Resource Director Jennifer Whitaker said in the last couple of weeks, they had a chance to look at the position and creating the responsibilities.
“Some of the wage that we estimated from the last salary ordinance was a coordinator, not necessarily maybe the director that’s really going to take the bull by the horns and be willing to shake that up,” she said.
Councilwoman Diane Quance agreed the position was justified, but struggled with the wage amount. She said Warsaw is not Fort Wayne and does not have the tax base that a city like Mishawaka has. “We’re not in that same league as far as money coming in from taxpayers, so I want to be sure we’re spending taxpayers’ money wisely,” she said.
Councilman Jeff Grose said the position was an investment and there would be a return on that investment. Mike Klondaris, councilman, said the new position could end up saving the city money and pay dividends.
Thallemer said the salaries of similar positions in other cities were $68,000 in Angola; Columbia City, $72,000; Columbus, $92,000; Jasper, $71,000; Portage, $87,000; and Westville, $103,000.
Whitaker said the $83,000 was the maximum.
“So, comparing also, what I took into consideration was, what are we paying our utility manager, what we are we paying our street superintendent. This is a very comparable wage for this individual, and we need to attract and retain and get that right person,” Whitaker said.
Councilman Josh Finch said that for a position like this, “you’re going to get what you pay for.” He said economic development is more crucial for Warsaw now to move forward.
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The maximum biweekly wage for the director of community development in the Economic and Redevelopment Department would be $3,192.31, or $83,000 per year. The salary would be the third highest in city government. The council approved the ordinance on first reading Monday and will be asked to approve the ordinance on second and final reading Oct. 19.
Mayor Joe Thallemer explained, “Our organizational and operational assessment this year ... some of these recommendations that were made were so important that I’m proposing that we move ahead with one such of these reorganizational steps.”
For the assessment, Baker Tilly looked at Warsaw and compared it to five or six similar-sized communities in Indiana. “And our community is looking at about a 10.6% increase since 2010. And that’s an estimate. We’re certainly not done with the Census. But we’re looking at a significant increase in our population,” Thallemer said, while the other “peer” cities are averaging anywhere from a 1.6 to about a 5% growth.
“So we’ve clearly been on a trajectory of growth, and, obviously, we’ve talked a little bit about the importance of the assessed value, spreading that tax burden out to a broader area, dropping the tax rate. We saw that last year. But with growth also comes the demand for services, the larger footprint, and we’re going to see department-wide this issue: police, fire, street department, sewer and building and plan. Looking at the growth, zoning issues, permitting. We’re just behind and I think the building and plan is just the one showing the most need,” Thallemer said.
Baker Tilly said building and plan, and other departments, are at capacity, but it won’t start affecting their productivity until they get beyond the point where they can handle it, and then city services will start to suffer.
“And we’ve seen some of that already. We’ve got to take action,” Thallemer said. “So the recommendation from Baker Tilly was to restructure the building and plan department and split the economic development and redevelopment activities out into their own department ... this is the one I wanted to focus on tonight.”
He said he wanted the salary to be more attractive as the city tries to attract someone to come into and run the new department “at a competitive wage.”
Thallemer said he looked at communities of Warsaw’s size to come up with a dollar figure that would consistent with what’s being offered regionally and statewide while still reflective of the growth the city has enjoyed.
“That growth is creating the need for more redevelopment. It’s not just forging ahead and growing more, it’s now deciding what we need to do with that growth we’ve enjoyed the last 10 years,” Thallemer said.
The community development director would oversee economic development and redevelopment, housing, “these are things that are separate from the day-to-day activities of the building and plan department,” which looks at issues of zoning, building and code violations and such.
“And there are some improvements that are being considered. We’re looking at potentially another GIS coordinator and potentially someone else to help get an automated permitting system going. But tonight, I want to focus on getting that community development director’s salary a little bit more competitive,” Thallemer said.
He said the $83,000 is up from the $74,000 that was originally in the salary ordinance.
Human Resource Director Jennifer Whitaker said in the last couple of weeks, they had a chance to look at the position and creating the responsibilities.
“Some of the wage that we estimated from the last salary ordinance was a coordinator, not necessarily maybe the director that’s really going to take the bull by the horns and be willing to shake that up,” she said.
Councilwoman Diane Quance agreed the position was justified, but struggled with the wage amount. She said Warsaw is not Fort Wayne and does not have the tax base that a city like Mishawaka has. “We’re not in that same league as far as money coming in from taxpayers, so I want to be sure we’re spending taxpayers’ money wisely,” she said.
Councilman Jeff Grose said the position was an investment and there would be a return on that investment. Mike Klondaris, councilman, said the new position could end up saving the city money and pay dividends.
Thallemer said the salaries of similar positions in other cities were $68,000 in Angola; Columbia City, $72,000; Columbus, $92,000; Jasper, $71,000; Portage, $87,000; and Westville, $103,000.
Whitaker said the $83,000 was the maximum.
“So, comparing also, what I took into consideration was, what are we paying our utility manager, what we are we paying our street superintendent. This is a very comparable wage for this individual, and we need to attract and retain and get that right person,” Whitaker said.
Councilman Josh Finch said that for a position like this, “you’re going to get what you pay for.” He said economic development is more crucial for Warsaw now to move forward.
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