Recruiter no longer under Chamber

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

HAMBY

Whoever is ultimately hired to be the county’s next industrial recruiter will now answer solely to the Industrial Development Board.

The industrial recruiter will also sport a new job title, officially being called director of economic development.

Those were just two of the significant changes made by the Industrial Development Board during its regular meeting Friday.

The decision to place the position solely under the direction of the Industrial Development Board (IDB) was a joint decision made by the IDB and the Chamber of Commerce. Previously the job had split responsibilities, with the person functioning as both industrial recruiter and Chamber president. The IDB paid 80 percent of the salary and the Chamber contributed 20 percent.

After considerable deliberation, both the Chamber board and the IDB essentially agreed that, due to recent shifts in the responsibilities of the IDB and the increased importance of economic development, it made sense to employ an individual who would be devoted solely to those concerns, with the IDB taking responsibility for 100 percent of the salary.

IDB Chairman Joe Hamby presented the changes to the members at the meeting.

“The bottom line here is that we’re bringing the industrial recruiter under the IDB,” Hamby said.

The Chamber board had voted on the changes to the industrial recruiter position earlier in the week, passing those changes by a 14-1 vote with one abstention.

The board eventually settled on Director of Economic Development as a more accurate representation of the new responsibilities of the position. Hamby had previously said the ultimate goal of the position is to stimulate economic development – not just industrial development.

Hamby also noted some changes to the salary responsibilities of the IDB’s office coordinator position, currently held by Joyce Lawson, who is presently handling the responsibilities of interim industrial recruiter as well. The IDB and Chamber will each pay 50 percent of her salary.

A motion to approve the amended agreements passed unanimously.

Once the changes to the position had been approved, the board moved on to the business of posting the job, setting a deadline to submit applications on Oct. 18. That’s 30 days from when the position will first be posted in the Standard. It will also be posted on several Websites.