Spring Hill Alderman Resigns; Accepts City Economic Development Job

An earlier version of this post did not refer to an internally circulated version of the job description as a draft, which it officially was.

By ZACH HARMUTH

Spring Hill Alderman Kayce Williams resigned her seat this week to accept a position as Spring Hill Economic Development Coordinator.

The position, a new one for Spring Hill, is responsible for “facilitating, promoting and ensuring community and economic development in order to secure opportunities for economic and business development and increase local employment,” according to its posting.

Williams said she had mixed feelings about leaving the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

“The decision was not an easy one for me as accepting would mean I would have to leave my seat on BOMA unfulfilled,” Williams said. “I have never taken for granted the job voters so graciously entrusted me with when they allowed me to be their elected representative. I have been immensely proud to serve the citizens, and I want to genuinely thank them for electing me and allowing me to contribute to our city in such an important and critical role.”

Williams will work with the chambers of commerce of the two counties that Spring Hill straddles — Williamson County’s Williamson, Inc, and Maury County’s Maury Alliance — to focus on bringing in corporate and offices jobs. She will also focus on recruiting retail, going to conferences and conventions such as the International Council of Shopping Centers.

“Part of the mayor’s vision of the position was that it was going to be doing a myriad of things, including retail,” Victor Lay, city administrator and author of the job posting said. “To have somebody locally that would be the contact if anybody came in, and as we got into really working with retail and trying to do retail recruitment, we said this position can be involved with this as well.”

The focus, or scope, of the job has been a sticking point for some city leaders.

Alderman Jonathan Duda, while he believes in Williams as the right person for the job described, picks a bone with any emphasis on retail.

“I have been a longtime advocate of having a resource at the city that would be able to effectively bring a focus to economic opportunities, specifically jobs, like office and corporate opportunities, to our community,” he said. “However, it seems that the approach they want is to attract retail. I don’t view that as where our focus for economic development should be. I believe she will do well in the role they have created for her, and the process to hire that role I don’t impugn at all.”

He thinks that the position should put a priority on pursuing corporations and offices.

“Williamson, Inc., and Maury Alliance do a very good job and, in our position between the two counties, we need to coordinate between the two and be laser focused on good-paying jobs and office and corporate recruitment,” he said. “Using resources to go to international shopping center conferences, going to these conferences and conventions, does not fit that.”

“We have a desperate shortage of office and corporate opportunities for people to work in Spring Hill, and If we are going to fix that issue we need to devote our resources to that.”

Retail, largely, will come on its own accord.

“In general, retail follows rooftops,” said Elizabeth West McCreary, economic development director for Williamson, Inc., which does not focus on recruiting retail. “When you are talking about big box chains and large stores, they already have in Williamson County the demographic they need. They know their target audience. We don’t need to market to them, because, the county as a whole, already has the buying power to attract them.”

The position and its description were first advertised in June, with the  wording that a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Economic Development or a related field and 1-2 years experience were “preferred.”

Williams has neither, however in the interview process she shined, and her particular experience as an alderman certainly gave her an intimate knowledge of Spring Hill’s economic needs.

An internally circulated draft version of the description, from May, was exactly the same as the one eventually published, except for two words: “required” was used in place of preferred.

Although the city administrator normally handles hiring staff for the city of Spring Hill, the decision to hire for the position of economic development coordinator was left up to a panel of citizens headed by Jim Grimes, owner of Autobody Advantage and the chairman of the city’s economic development commission. 38 applicants were considered.

Williams’ alderman seat, meanwhile, is now vacant.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen can appoint the position, or keep it vacant until the next election, which is in April.

Any alderman can nominate.

At the work session on Monday, the Mayor Rick Graham announced he intended to have that as an item on the board agenda on Nov. 21.