An open letter to Greensburg’s city leaders:
The planning director is a strategic position that is as critical to Greensburg’s future health as any in the city.
It is my hope that City Council will conduct a thoughtful nationwide search for a great person to serve in that position (“Greensburg fires longtime city planning director,” Feb. 19, TribLIVE). The odds are overwhelmingly against finding the ideal candidate already living in Greensburg. (Councilman Randal Finfrock can tell you precisely what those odds are.*) Please take time to do it right.
Budget $100,000 for the job — one can live well in Greensburg for that — and we can afford it. I always found I could recruit excellent people from DC and Baltimore based on Greensburg’s cost of living, culture and sense of community.
As a taxpayer, I would be thrilled to pay another $10 or more a year in taxes to have a creative and competent professional in that role. I’d argue that it would be a great investment too, for as goes Greensburg, so goes employment and home values.
* (14,299/327,000,000 = 0.000044 = 1 in 23,000)
Gene James
Greensburg