City Council to Discuss Employing Main Street Coordinator

Let’s talk soon about whether the New Port Richey city government should employ someone to manage , a downtown economic development nonprofit that receives an annual city subsidy.

That’s what the city council decided recently, and they plan to hold a  work session on the subject Tuesday, Aug. 16.

Deputy Mayor Rob Marlowe raised the idea at a work session Tuesday, August 9. Marlowe said he noticed a job listing posted online for a manager of Palatka Main Street, which is part of the same nonprofit group as Greater New Port Richey Main Street. 

It got him to thinking that the New Port Richey government could hire somebody to coordinate its program, Marlowe said. He said a coordinator on staff in New Port Richey would be able to put focus back on bringing businesses into the city.

The Palatka Main Street Manager job will be annual contract position funded with money from Palatka's Community Redevelopment Agency, said Jonathan Griffith, acting Main Street manager. The job has been a  city staff position with benefits in the past, he said.

Greater New Port Richey Main Street and Palatka's program are two of many Main Street Florida programs. These concentrate on downtown economic revitalization, historic preservation and city promotion. Main Street programs are used in states across the nation.

New Port Richey's program is “just sort of hanging in there and may or not be at critical mass,” and New Port Richey annually pays to subsidize the cost to the city of events sponsored by Main Street and other nonprofits, Marlowe said. Events planned by Greater New Port Richey Main Street include Main Street Holidays,and others.

“I’m just not sure that we’re getting our money’s worth with what we’re doing,” Marlowe said. 

Marlowe said that New Port Richey could use money from $187,000  spent annually to subsidize to fund the new position. This person would concentrate on revitalizing the downtown area, the U.S. 19 corridor and the Community Hospital area “that’s about to be very vacant on us,” he said.

“I think we’ve got an opportunity now to do some things that maybe would be a little different… from what we’re used to doing,” he said. “And maybe get a better result.”

Passions flared late last year when two council members voted in favor of doing away with the Main Street program's city subsidy. Councilwoman Judy DeBella Thomas resigned from her job as executive director of Greater New Port Richey Main Street to cast the deciding vote in favor of saving the injection of taxpayer cash.

The city’s current contract with Main Street allocates a $30,000 subsidy from Community Redevelopment Agency funds to the organization this fiscal year. This is a 25 percent reduction from the previous year's allotment of $40,000. The contract calls for a further cut of at least $5,000 every year starting in fiscal year 2012 and does not guarantee subsidies in the future.

The program currently has a board of directors, executive board and part-time administrator but no executive director. In addition to the subidy, it receives funding through sponsorships, membership dues and event food and drink sales.

DeBella Thomas said she agreed to discuss the idea of the city hiring a Greater New Port Richey Main Street manager. She said she thought for years the city needed to talk about a way to better operate Main Street.

She said there may be some complications that arise when making the head of Main Street coordinator a government job.

"I think that, inherently, Main Street programs are going to get the kind of volunteering and corporate money and all of that because they are a 501(c)3" she said.

She said it's important to include the group in the talk.

In Clearwater, the executive director of Main Street was a city employee, DeBella Thomas said.

She said Joan Jefferson, the program coordinator of Main Street Florida, would be able to give insight.

“I would hate to see the city lose" the program, DeBella Thomas said.

Council members Bob Langford and Ginny Miller voted last year to do away with Greater New Port Richey Main Street's subsidy.

On Tuesday, Langford said: 

“I think that we do need economic restructuring in the city," and hiring a manager for the program "is a good way to accomplish that.”

City Manager John Schneiger said that the city doesn’t have the resources to properly address all of New Port Richey’s redevelopment needs. It could benefit from having someone on staff who concentrates on economic development issues, like developing for the or collecting an inventory of vacant downtown businesses.

"There's a lot of things we could do to help ourselves, but we've been very limited," he said.

Tuesday's work session, in which council members can't vote but can give direction, will happen on the same night as a regular city council session on other issues, at which council members can vote.