Last Days of Community Development

December 31, 2009 marked the last day of the Community Development office in Bemidji City Hall. My job was eliminated and I now join the other 175,000 unemployed workers that are currently drawing unemployment benefits in Minnesota.

The City Council eliminated the 2010 budget for my position in a surprise move (and I believe outside the authority vested in them by the Charter) during a work session in August. Many individuals and community organizations protested the decision, but the Council chose to ignore their pleas and instead suggested that the duties be distributed to other staff. Unfortunately, the work that is generally considered “community development” will probably not get done.

The city has reduced its workforce by 10% in the last three years. Not only is there is no other staff with the time for it, there is no staff with the passion for it.

The City will pay me about $585 a week to stay home until I find a new job (or for 72 weeks, whichever comes first). The State will send a quarterly bill to the City for reimbursement of my unemployment claim and there will be negligible savings realized from the elimination of the position. The costs to the community will never be known, a realization The Pioneer alludes to in today’s editorial—unbelievably, their first comment on the issue (emphasis mine):

Bemidji is on the cusp of something great, we only hope that increased development is both welcome and well-guided. That is perhaps our weakest link, as Beltrami County has halved its grant to the Joint Economic Development Commission and the city of Bemidji has eliminated its community development director position.

Still, 2010 holds promise as a great year for economic development in Bemidji. We’ll be looking for opportunities to foster that.

Kinda late. Many opportunities to foster development were lost when four members of the council orchestrated the elimination of the CD position. There is enough money in the City’s 2010 budget to fund the CD position; they have just chosen not to.