The International Falls City Council is expected to hear a recommendation from the city’s EDA Board July 16 to fill a newly created position.
Shawn Mason, who serves as International Falls mayor, will be recommended for the director of economic and community development.
The city’s EDA Board, made up of city councilors, reconvened Friday to continue discussions about the two candidates — Mason and Paul Nevanen — interviewed from among a field of 11 applicants, four of whom EDA members said were viable candidates. EDA Board members also noted that more than half of the applicants were from outside the community. The names of the applicants are considered confidential. The names of finalists — Mason and Nevanen — became public information once the field was narrowed. The two finalists met with the EDA Board for interviews June 25.
Mason was absent from Friday’s EDA meeting and has said that once she decided to apply for the position, has left meetings where the position was discussed and abstained from voting on issues involving the position. Mason announced in April that she would not seek reelection to the mayor’s position.
EDA member Paul Eklund said Friday that Nevanen withdrew his name from consideration during the interview time and instead offered a proposal as the Koochiching Economic Development Authority director.
Nevanen proposed that he do the job, outlined in a two-page job description, for the first year at $25,000.
The position was recommended by the city’s Economic Development Authority in May. The annual salary for the position is $40,000 to $55,000, depending on qualifications, plus benefits, according to the city. The position would perform technical, administrative and professional work supporting the city and the EDA in implementing current and long-range planning goals and programs related to economic development, community development, housing, infrastructure, land-use planning and related work as apparent or assigned by the council or the EDA, according to the job description.
EDA President Tim “Chopper” McBride said Mason “shone for me. I am comfortable with that candidate.” He noted that the process to establish the position began three years ago when city councilors and staff realized that economic development efforts needed someone specific to lead them. By filling the position, city administration will be freed from economic and community development tasks they have been handling, allowing them to be more aggressive in their positions.
Advice from other communities with similar positions involved not hiring a position, but finding the right person for the job, said McBride.
“This is a very good move,” he said.
Eklund said there was “only one person to choose from. This candidate is head and shoulders above the rest of the applicants.”
He said some of the applicants would be good candidates for an assistant director of economic and community development. And, he added, he hoped the new director would be so successful that at some point they would need an assistant.
Eklund acknowledged that hiring a seated mayor is “a very controversial move. But I hope we have been transparent enough for the community. We have the best interests of the International Falls community at heart.”
EDA member Cynthia Jaksa agreed that city officials “may take some heat, but we’re doing the right thing.”
Jaksa said Mason was the only candidate to provide documentation to support her contention that she was qualified for the job. Jaksa said Mason provided documentation of her ability to network with local, state and federal agencies by citing appointments to organizations and other activities.
“It’s a difficult role to fill,” said Jaksa of the director position. “It requires unique attributes. The right person will work. If it’s not the right person, it won’t.”
And Jaksa said she’s reluctant to add staff, but believes the position will augment city staff, who have been carrying some of the economic development load.
EDA member Gail Rognerud said that she was reluctant to fill the position with someone who would need a learning curve or wasn’t exactly the right person. And, she said, had no candidates had the attributes needed for the job, she would have recommended the city not fill the position.
She said the position must be filled by someone who can play a key role in projects on the cusp of development. “If we don’t have the person who can take these and run with them, it would be a disaster,” she said.
Meanwhile, Eklund asked the EDA Board to respond to the proposal offered by Nevanen in a letter to KEDA Board Chairman Allen Rasmussen.
McBride and Rognerud represent the city on the KEDA Board, which also includes representatives of the county board and at-large community members.
McBride noted that the KEDA Board did not act on the proposal offered by Nevanen.
“When the director comes before a board and speaks, I assume they are speaking on behalf of the board,” added Jaksa.
The letter, signed by McBride, to Rasmussen said “We question whether KEDA’s proposal to provide the same services we will be getting from a full-time staff person is realistic.”
“We expect and intend to continue to work closely with KEDA to collaboratively expand economic development opportunities for all and our goal in hiring staff for our EDA is to increase efforts in support of economic development and not simply create additional burdens for KEDA. It is our hope that KEDA will embrace this opportunity to strengthen the team of those advancing our common goal of economic and community development.”
