MOUNT VERNON — The city is hiring for a newly created position designed to boost development and communication.
Mount Vernon City Council members approved the position on Monday.
Mayor Matt Starr said the job is two-fold: generate non-tax revenues and handle crisis communications.
“We’re really trying to build capacity and create more non-tax revenues for the city: going after strategic partnerships, going after more grants. We’ve been pretty successful at going after grants, but it’s not been in any kind of really structured, capacity-building way,” he said.
Starr called the public information officer’s role “highly specialized,” because it will be someone trained in crisis communications.
Council member and Employee and Community Relations chair Amber Keener said the position focuses actions previously done by volunteers, council members and full-time employees into one body.
Keener cited the time required to install the Statue of Liberty in Liberty Plaza and Captain Hunter’s Landing splash pad as examples of multiple people working on the process.
“I think that this is a big thing that this role will do, and it will create the systems of knowing who to talk to to get these grants to roll forward in a timely way,” she said.
Responding to Councilman Taylor Jacklin’s question about scaling back the position if it does not work out, Keener said the administration has proven it follows through regarding employees.
“I feel confident moving this forward, recognizing that in a year, they will want to see a return on investment as well,” she said. “I think that this will be a useful role and that we will be able to see things moving forward in a faster way.”
The exempt position pays a salary of nearly $63,000.
Services and resource coordinator position introduced
Also on Monday, Keener gave a first reading to an ordinance creating a Services and Resource Coordinator position. The proposed position will pay between $21.57 and $30.20 per hour.
Council members discussed and passed legislation authorizing the administration to issue up to $29 million in bonds for the new police station.
They also took the following actions:
• Gave first readings to legislation authorizing the administration to bid and contract for the Blackjack wetland (no emergency clause) and Veterans Walk of Honor (emergency clause) projects.
• Suspended the three readings and passed legislation authorizing the auditor to create additional line accounts to track probation grants (emergency clause) and make supplemental appropriations (no emergency clause).
• Gave a second reading to an ordinance amending curbside recycling regulations.
• Waived the third reading and amended the Civil Service Commission code to provide for naming alternate commission members. Law Director Rob Broeren said the commission had to cancel two meetings because it lacked a quorum.
• Gave a first reading to ordinances amending the city code relating to taxi cabs and changing the distribution formula for the 1% unvoted income tax (both have the emergency clause) (see PDF below).