City hires new economic development director
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By BETH ZUMWALT
Brittney Emerick
The City of Pittsfield announced Brittany Emerick as their new economic development director at their Nov. 5 meeting.
“She has some marketing experience and we think she will be a good fit,” Gary Mendenhall, mayor, said. “She started Monday, Nov. 4.”
Emerick will take over economic development duties previously performed by Ed Knight, who will take on more projects for the city.
“He is currently helping with the city hall expansion project,” Mendenhall said. “He will be the liaison between the contractor, the businesses and city hall during the downtown revitalization project which should start in 2025.”
Mendenhall said that the downtown revitalization has the potential to make the downtown inconvenient to some and the city is looking for alternate spots in the downtown area to host Pig Day and the Fall Festival next year.
“It just depends on how bad it is tore up,” he said.
The city has also entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the county, to replace the sidewalks on the inside of the square as part of the projects. The sidewalks around the outside were already included in the project.
The city also had been dreading getting the quote from the workman’s compensation and liability insurance as they had been warned of an increase. There was an increase but it was only $676 per year, which is less than they had been expecting. The 2025 premium will be $172,427.
The city also gave the go-ahead to tiling the rest of the airport farm. There had been some confusion on if the project would have to be let out for bids, but Mendenhall said the project was let out for bids last year and was specified to be done in phases.
“This is just the second phase,” Mendenhall said. “We wanted to divide it up over two years because of the cost. The second phase will cost $48,680. Jason Heavner will do the work. “
