Main Street: Taking a little more time

Finding a director for the program is best served by waiting to reopen recruitment

  • By: John Baker  
  • Published: 12/28/2009 12:18:21 PM
While still a priority, the hiring of a Main Street Program director is best served by waiting a bit.
That’s the decision the city of Canby has taken as it approaches the implementation of the Main Street Program, according to Amanda Klock, interim city administrator. Time, she said, demonstrated that there were still questions to answer and a job description to tweak.

So, the city will wait until late January or early February before reopening the recruitment process for the director’s position.

“When we were going through the (initial) process, we had questions come up that we felt needed answers and that forced us to go back and examine what our needs were and what the job description should be. r />
“As things came up, we looked at the position’s structure and objectives,” Klock added. “We want to make sure we create a job description that best meets the needs of the downtown revitalization program.”

Klock added that in the initial recruitment, the city didn’t get the “quantity of applications” it had hoped for.
She was clear that the quality of applicants was strong, just the number of applications seemed to be lacking.

“So, I asked myself if we were targeting the right group of candidates and did we have the job description written the best way to serve this program and this position,” Klock said.

With the mid-year budget review on tap in January, as well as the Canby City Council goal setting session, and the potential those two events could cause some changes in the position, the decision was made to wait to reopen recruitment until they’d been conducted.

“Since we’re at this point, we’ll wait for those processes to happen,” said Klock. “We want to make sure we can get someone in that can meets the priorities that are set in those meetings — a candidate that can meet the responsibilities of the position.”

The Main Street Program was started in the early 1980s by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a tool to revitalize downtowns throughout the country.

It focuses on revitalizing the downtown to encourage stronger economics and strong community identity.
Main Street provides a concentrated effort to focus on what types of building designs would create higher density and what kind of promotion can be brought to the downtown area.

While the Main Street director’s job would be a city position, it would be funded through Canby’s Urban Renewal District.

“It’s a unique position in that it is funded through the Urban Renewal District,” said Klock. “We’re also hoping that when we reopen it that it would be a good idea to involve some of the downtown business owners in the recruitment process. Ask them about their expectations for the position; perhaps get some of those people on the interview panel.”

Getting a director on board who understands what the program is and “how we in Canby have structured it around our specific needs, but meet the overall purpose of the Main Street Program,” is vital, Klock said.

“What do we want this position to do and what do we want in the skill set of the person coming into it to look like?” Klock asked. “We want to get this right.”

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