Town considering hiring economic development adviser

The Nashville Town Council is planning to hire a person to do a job somewhat similar to what its last town manager/economic development director was doing — but that person won’t really be a “town manager.”

The town has been without a town manager/economic development director for nearly a year. Scott Rudd, who last held that job, left in August to become the state’s director of broadband opportunities, a new job in the cabinet of Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch.

Town council members decided last fall to hold off on making any decisions about filling that job because it was an election year. Two sitting council members did end up getting replaced in that election. Since the new council members took office in January, the council has not discussed what it wanted to do with that open job.

At the May 16 council meeting, Dax Norton, who works for MS Consultants Inc. based in Indianapolis, made a pitch to take over some of Rudd’s old roles. He said he had met with the council members individually before this meeting.

Norton, who used to work in economic development in Boone County, is starting a new branch of MS Consultants for small communities that have no economic development department or manager.

Instead of “management,” he prefers the term “strategic direction,” because what he was pitching to do would not be managing town employees, he said. He would be the “single point of contact for community economic development initiatives” serving as an “economic development operations facilitator/adviser,” as well as “telling the story of Nashville to the outside world.”

He believes he’s the right person for this job because of his background in economic development and trends. Because he doesn’t live here — though family members of his used to — he would rely on the council, town staff and residents to advise him on whether or not he’s moving in the right direction.

He would not be making decisions, only recommendations to the council, he said.

He estimated his fee would be $2,400 to $4,800 per month, depending on what the town needs. The one other community he is advising right now, Jamestown, is paying $3,125 per month, he said. If Nashville signed on, it would be probably his third client, as another community, Montpelier, is also considering his offer, he said. He plans to travel to his contracted communities about once a week, doing other work for them remotely.

Rudd, who lives in Nashville, was a full-time employee making $51,000 per year plus benefits.

Council members did not make a decision at the May meeting. Town Attorney James T. Roberts was not there to look at Norton’s contract proposal.

Council members Anna Hofstetter and Nancy Crocker said they could see some benefits in this sort of arrangement. Gore said the council had planned on replacing Rudd at some point, but she didn’t know the specifics of the budget at the moment.

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Speed bumps coming to North Jefferson

Slow down if you drive North Jefferson; if not, you’re in for a surprise.

At their May 16 meeting, town council members unanimously approved putting temporary speed bumps on North Jefferson in the hill area. Council member Alisha Gredy had brought a complaint to the council from residents who are concerned about the safety of walkers who use that stretch of that road. Council members shared that concern.

The speed limit is supposed to be 20 mph.

Nashville Utility Coordinator Sean Cassiday said he’ll have to get a sign up first before putting them in, so it would be a couple weeks.

Town clock repair project under way

It might feel like time has stood still in Nashville, but it won’t be that way forever. The town clock at the corner of Main and Van Buren streets hasn’t worked for months, but a couple people are trying to fix it.

Town council member Alisha Gredy brought up the broken clock at the May 16 council meeting. She said tourists were making fun of Nashville because of it.

Nashville Utility Coordinator Sean Cassiday said that he and Roger Kelso were looking at it, trying to pick up where former town maintenance man Lamond Martin left off. He couldn’t give a time frame for when it would be fixed.

Town council member Nancy Crocker suggested putting a sign on it in the interim that says something like “In Nashville, time doesn’t matter,” or set it to 5:00 and see if anyone gets it (like the song, “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.”) Cassiday didn’t make any promises to that effect.