February’s Town Council workshop brought clarity for the Council on their next steps for the Main Street Program. The Department of Housing and Community Developments (DHCD) manages the Main Street Program and has begun pushing for stronger compliance from the local municipalities. "The DHCD is getting stronger about enforcing the specifics of the agreements going forward," said City Manager Jim Wieprecht. "The national program is leaning on the State, so the State is leaning on the local programs."
The biggest aspect of this compliance is the "Letter of Agreement" that DHCD utilizes as a guide to the formation of a successful Main Street Program. This agreement is the framework of the Program and according Wieprecht, 80% of the framework needs to be in place by the Council before the advisory board is created. The annual agreement is a fairly new requirement that was implemented by DHCD after the previous board was elected.
The agreement stresses the City have a full time Main Street Manager that works on the Program (a minimum of 30 hours a week). In the past, Taneytown’s Economic Director was also the Main Street Manager, however, the City can split the positions into two if they want to. Miller pointed out that he learned through discussions with DHCD that it is very common in towns of Taneytown’s population size for the Economic Development Director to also serve as Main Street Manager. After discussing it, the Council agreed that there isn’t enough work yet for there to be two positions but down the road the Council can re-evaluate and split the job into two.
Mayor Christopher Miller did tell the Council that with the firing of the former Main Street Manager and Economics Director, Jay Meashey, he was on the hunt for a replacement. "We’re going to be looking a little bit more local; we’re going to be looking for somebody who has a good lay of the land, somebody who is going to be at the businesses regularly, especially the Main Street businesses."
Although initially Miller was intending on choosing the candidate himself by the Council meeting the following week, Miller had retracted the decision to pick the new EDC Director and announced the position would be posted after the Commissioners reviewed the job description requirements. "We are going to aim to have all applications in by March 31st," he said.
Another discussion point for the Council is the financial responsibility of the City for the Program. At the beginning, the City will need to fully support the Program until it is capable of achieving standalone status as its own 501c3 with its own funding streams. Traditionally, the City sends a sum of $12,000 to aid the Program but as resident and local business owner Paul Clouth pointed out, "$12,000 doesn’t get you anywhere to do the job that needs to be done for expenses and promotion." Wieprecht said DHCD recommends that funding should come from different streams;
from the local business community.
For the Commissioners and residents, accountability is the most important factor in the financial status of the Program. "I think it needs to be addressed to make sure things are being reported, things are being done the way they’re supposed to be done," said Tannery Barn Owner Dan Chavis. He also agreed with posting the job versus just hiring someone. Co-owner of ‘Rust’, Scott Davis, also pointed out the long history of negativity that surrounds Main Street and the importance of accountability.
"Part of the issue was that the Board that was established most recently was trying to have oversight over what was being spent and where it was being spent and the Main Street Manager wasn’t cooperating with that," pointed out Tillman. Miller agreed, suggesting any withdrawals and deposits be directly sent to the City’s Community Foundation so the Economic Director can’t touch the funds. By doing so there would be records of withdrawals and deposits, thus giving the Board autonomy over their money. The Council also agreed to make the Main Street monies a line item in the budget as a sub-category under the economic development category.
With a final goal of establishing the framework for the Program before hiring a Main Street Manager, the Council decided looking at the job descriptions of a Main Street Manager and the Economic Development Director to be a priority for the next workshop.
