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STEUBENVILLE -- After spending a little more than 30 minutes airing their concerns with the proposed guidelines for bringing a city-only economic development specialist on staff, Steubenville City Council decided to scrap the idea altogether.
The vote was 2-5 against adjusting the city's Table of Organization to make room for a new hire, a move its only supporters -- Second Ward Councilman Tracy McManamon and Sixth Ward Councilman Mike Hernon -- said would give council 30 days to fine-tune the job description, expectations and even salary before it actually would take effect.
"All we're doing tonight is voting to put it on the TO," McManamon said. "We're not hiring anyone. We have 30 days after tonight to make changes."
Hernon figures small business is going to fuel Steubenville's future and told council having someone on staff to help existing businesses grow and bring new ones to the area is crucial.
"We can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results," Hernon said. "It is a gamble, it's a risk. We need more resources, we need more revenue -- and the way we get that is more jobs."
The majority wasn't swayed, however, with most voicing concern with how adding the position would impact an already tight city budget.
While McManamon suggested rolling back the requirements and making the position pay commensurate with experience, the draft guidelines they were given prior to the meeting had suggested advertising for someone with four years of experience and paying up to $70,000 per year in salary -- a number the majority keyed in on.
Using $70,000 as a benchmark, Finance Director Dave Lewis said benefits and other expenses could push the total cost up to as much as $125,000 -- and that doesn't include any support staff. Lewis reminded council they're already looking at an $89,000 shortfall for the budget year, and while they could pay for the economic development specialist out of their surplus "rainy day" money, he said "that's not ideal."
"That's just one position," First Ward Councilman Dave Albaugh reiterated. "And it doesn't include paying for) an executive assistant or anything."
Fourth Ward Councilman Royal Mayo agreed, pointing out that they're already helping fund the Jefferson County Port Authority to the tune of $50,000 a year -- and that's on top of whatever they would spend to hire their own economic development specialist.
"I think we should do what we're doing with the port authority," Mayo said. "We appoint four people to the port authority ... (they) ought to be invited here each quarter to tell us what's happening with them, what's on deck."
Third Ward Councilwoman Heather Hoover said they need to lay the proper groundwork before they consider bringing someone on staff.
"We don't have people beating down the door (to come here)," Hoover pointed out. "I think there are things we need to do internally, we need to become more business friendly. I can't see us being able to create a position that's magically going to fix all our problems."
Councilman at large Joel Walker and Fifth Ward Councilman Ted Gorman also balked at the change, with Gorman pointing out they're "100 percent in support of economic development but as a group, we need to come up with (things) we can live with."
"I'm not for this position at this moment," Walker added. "I think when the three of us (Albaugh, Hoover and Walker) got elected, we talked to a lot of people. The city has a problem -- we ran on coming here to fix those problems first before we go out and look to bring (someone in.)"
Before the vote McManamon urged his peers to think about the numbers.
"Ninety percent of our revenue comes from income taxes," he said. "We have to see outside of ourselves and have a bigger, broader viewpoint of where we want to take our city. If we don't put this position on the TO and continue to discuss it ... we're going to be missing a great opportunity."
In other action, council adopted a resolution designating April as Fair Housing Month in Steubenville, but this year its members boycotted the presentation to protest council's decision to keep the controversial Neighborhood Conservation Districts in place.
"None of them are here, as you can see," Mayo said. "They said our council totally ignored them about the NCDs. We didn't address it at all, we didn't discuss it at all, we didn't table it, we just voted it through. Not only did we go against their recommendation, we went against HUD's recommendation, we went against the Civil Rights Commission's recommendation and went straight to where we're keeping it anyway. (They're) really displeased with us not addressing them or their concerns properly."
Resolutions proclaiming April as Child Abuse Prevention month as well as Minority Health Month in Steubenville also were approved.
While no vote was taken, a majority of council members made it clear there's no support for implementing the controversial Sunset Boulevard "road diet" strategy to reduce vehicular speeds and accidents on the heavily traveled road.
While Mayo said he'd like more information, the other six council representatives said they've talked to residents and business people and no one likes the idea.
Mayo called for a utility committee meeting for 7 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the reconnection fees being charged to residents who were disconnected for non-payment.
Albaugh sunshined a resolution honoring Donald Spring for his efforts to clean up the downtown and announced the next cleanup will be April 13 from 10 a.m. to noon and will target Railroad to Sixth streets.
Albaugh also asked City Manager Jim Mavromatis to look into a flag pole for the greenspace next to the municipal building.
• Walker told council they need to "move forward" with a charter review.
• Mayo again reminded council they need to demonstrate their commitment to the North End revitalization if they hope to convince HUD to award Steubenville tens of millions of dollars through its Choice Neighborhoods implementation grant program.