St. Joseph City Council Votes Against Full Time Development Director

ST. JOSEPH - St. Joseph voted against adding a full-time community development director to its city staff on Monday.

A community development consultant has been working for the city one day a week, but recently resigned for a new job. They recommended that the city hire a full time development director.

City administrator Judy Weyrens says three council members voted against the the idea, questioning if there's enough work for a full time position.

"Some council members are concerned that there might not be enough workload for a full-time employee."

The city has $95,000 available in its budget for a position in 2016. Weyrens says they were paying $35,000 this year for a economic development consultant to work one day a week.

"The concerns from those that supported the community development director is that you're going to spend a lot of money on consultant fees, where if you hired a full time director, it would be less expensive and you would have more services available."

The city council will re-visit the position during their next city council meeting on November 16th.