The Town of Highland will start its search for a new Redevelopment Director after the holidays.
The Redevelopment Commission at a special meeting Monday voted 4-0, with Commissioner Sean Conley absent, to advertise the position internally first before widening the search. Current Director Kathy DeGuilio-Fox resigned from the position at the Redevelopment Commission’s Dec. 14 meeting, she confirmed in an email.
Town Council Redevelopment liaison Roger Sheeman, R-5th, said he’d already instructed the Idea Factory to advertise the position on the town’s website and suggested the commission use HR.gov as a starting point for the search, because the town used it when replacing Cecile Petro in 2017. Clerk-Treasurer Michael Griffin added that the town can also reach out to Accelerate Indiana Municipalities’s listserv focused on redevelopment.
Griffin initially suggested that the town first post the notice internally so that people already working for the town could express their interest and perhaps be considered.
“You want this (process) to be as apolitical as possible,” Griffin said. “Anyone local should write a letter of interest, then apply through other channels (such as job-search website Indeed if the job is posted there).”
School Town of Highland liaison Pat Krull asked if there was an issue with the last search in that an out-of-state candidate rescinded his application upon finding out the salary was less than he was willing to take, to which Griffin said it was. The Commission could in fact pay the new director above and beyond a proposed 4% increase the town was planning to give employees, Griffin said, but might have to give up other things to cover the higher salary for this year.
“Who has Redevelopment directors in their towns, and what are their salaries and experience?” Commission President Cy Huerter said. “We can use that as a base in order to be competitive if (the candidate) is someone we really want.”
The Commission agreed that while having someone from Highland in the position might be preferable, there’s something to be said about hiring an outsider.
“We never want to go outside of town, but sometimes, that’s what we need,” Commissioner Robyn Radford said.
Deguilio-Fox said her resignation will be effective upon the new candidate’s hire; to that end, Sheeman suggested that she help recommend her successor. The Commission will also work on an official job profile before sending it out publicly, it agreed.
Interviews for the job can, by law, and would be conducted in executive session, but the person’s hiring would be done at a public meeting, Griffin added.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tirbune.
