New DDA director to be announced April 3
ALPENA — The Alpena Downtown Development Authority’s personnel committee is prepared to make a recommendation on a candidate to replace former executive director Lesslee Dort, who stepped down last month to accept another employment opportunity. The identity of the candidate will not be made public until the DDA meeting April 3.
DDA President Mike Mahler said there were 13 resumes submitted from people in and outside of Alpena. After sorting through them, the committee narrowed the field to eight who were interviewed. After the interviews the field narrowed to five and the committee began deliberating on the candidates strengths and weaknesses, until the potential hire was agreed upon.
Mahler said he was pleased with the amount of interest in the job, but more importantly the quality of the candidates. He said it was a difficult decision to make because all the interviews were impressive.
“Any one of those five would have been viable for the job and be able to hit the ground running,” Mahler said. “The degree of separation between them was minuscule I would have to say.”
The DDA wants to find someone who will be able to step in and get right to work, yet is personable, enthusiastic, as well as be able to communicate with others, while accepting constructive criticism. Mahler said a love and passion for Alpena, especially downtown was also something the committee felt was important.
“We tried to get a complete picture of them,” he said. “To see if there was interest in the job, or in the downtown.”
Whoever is hired will have an adjustment period, but Mahler said he expects a smooth transition because of the work Dort had done before leaving. He said she put together comprehensive lists of tasks that need to be done and will be available to help with when possible until the new hire gets a grasp on the day-to-day responsibilities.
There also is going to be little change in terms on what the job description is and the amount of time the new director will work. The possibility of cutting the position to part-time was mentioned, but Mahler said that is not going to occur and the job will remain full-time.
“We have made too much progress and we’re not interested in going backwards. We want to continue to move forward and that requires having someone full-time I believe,” he said.
In order to make the hire as soon as possible, the DDA has moved up its regular meeting a day to April 3. If the board votes to approve the hiring recommendation, a confirmation vote will be taken by Alpena Municipal Council later that night. Shortly after the new director will take the reins.
“We hope to have them in the office and working by the end of April,” Mahler said.
Steve Schulwitz can be reached via email at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter ss_alpenanews.