Danielle Whelly will consult for the Department of Community and Economic Development at a rate of $50 per hour not to exceed 20 hours a week.
Daniel Gray, the department’s director, said the decision to secure temporary support for his office was the result of discussions with Mayor Michael Cinquanti as the city tries to fill the recent opening.
“The additional help will help keep things moving,” Gray said Thursday.
Gina DaBiere-Gibbs, who formerly held the position, left late last month for a position with the state Department of Environmental Conservation. She was half of the workforce in the two-person department.
The city posted the opening and has begun interviewing candidates, Gray said. It could still be a few weeks before any job offers are made and likely at least a month before the selected candidate would be able to start.
In the meantime, Gray has been managing departmental tasks on his own.
“It all comes down to prioritizing and making sure you get done what needs to get done now and keep plugging forward,” Gray said.
To support the shorthanded office, Cinquanti reached out to Whelly, who previously worked in the city’s Tourism, Marketing and Recreation Department. She was part of the team that crafted the winning application for the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative state grant.
“She’s got extensive experience,” Cinquanti said of Whelly, who presently serves on the Amsterdam Industrial Development Agency Board of Directors. “She knows Amsterdam like the back of her hand.”
Initially, Cinquanti said Whelly was approached to gauge her interest in filling the position outright, but the business marketing consultant apparently did not want the job full time. She later agreed to work for the city as a temporary consultant after qualified applications were slow to arrive.
“We are having an uptick in applications,” Cinquanti said. “We were looking for certain experiences that weren’t coming through on the resumes and we’re getting those now. We feel confident we’re going to make a hiring decision in the next few weeks and Danielle is fully aware of the fact this is a stopgap measure.”
Whelly is expected to start imminently following the formal execution of the contract for consulting services authorized this week by the Common Council.
As a consultant, Whelly will largely take on administrative and reporting tasks related to the city’s grant funded Microenterprise Assistance Program and New York State HOME Program, as well as some upcoming DRI projects.
“There is a lot of reporting involved. The paperwork side of it is pretty intensive for those projects,” Gray said.
Around $10,000 remains from the latest $300,000 Microenterprise grant awarded to the city to assist small businesses. Gray said applicants for the available funds will likely be sought in the near future.
City officials are working with the state in preparation for the reintroduction of the New York State HOME Program. Amsterdam was awarded $500,000 to assist low-to moderate-income property owners with needed home repairs. It will likely be a few months before the program is opened to applicants.
“There are still some steps we have to take. We haven’t done this program in a couple years,” Gray said.
After a community development and grants assistant is hired, Cinquanti and Gray expect Whelly will continue to assist the city for a brief period until the new employee is fully brought up to speed.
“We expect to hire an experienced person, so we don’t expect there is going to be a long training period. It’s just a matter of making that person familiar with the projects we’re already working on and the people involved,” Cinquanti said. “We’re very, very busy, we’ve got some great things happening in the city in terms of economic development that are very exciting.”