Hiring of town planner put off by Millsboro council

By Glenn Rolfe
Posted 1/18/22

MILLSBORO — While there are funds in the budget for one, there are no immediate plans for a new town planner in Millsboro.

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already a member? Log in to continue.   Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Hiring of town planner put off by Millsboro council

Posted

MILLSBORO — While there are funds in the budget for one, there are no immediate plans for a new town planner in Millsboro.

Addressing job vacancies in Town Hall is of more importance, officials agreed at Town Council’s Jan. 6 meeting.

“There is money in the budget for the position. (But) from my perspective, I don’t think there is any great rush to hire a town planner,” said Millsboro Town Manager Sheldon Hudson.

Vice Mayor Tim Hodges added that council has talked about employing a town planner in the past, noting that the idea has “waffled” back and forth.

Since Councilman John Thoroughgood also suggested that Millsboro first focus on addressing other staff needs, council decided to put off further discussion on the planner position, possibly until March.

Mr. Hudson said there are other roles to be filled at Town Hall, including for an accounting technician.

Like the town engineer position filled about a year ago with the hire of Carrie Kruger, formerly of Duffield Associates, the need for a town planner stems from Millsboro’s ongoing commercial and residential growth.

According to Delaware’s 2021 Report on State Planning Issues, Millsboro, with an estimated population of 7,000, ranks No. 1 out of the 25 Sussex County cities for number of residential building permits issued in six years.

Its growth is reflective of Sussex County, the fastest-growing county in the state.

“We just find, as a growing town, our consultant expenses are starting to get to the point where it may make sense to hire someone, as opposed to outsourcing it,” said Mr. Hudson. “I would expect we would continue to outsource building inspections and things like that, like we do currently.

“But on a planning side, it is starting to reach the point where I think we wanted to take a wait-and-see approach to see how consistent the development was,” he added. “Obviously, if development slowed to a crawl, it might not make as much sense. But we’ve seen growth pretty consistently for a number of years, to where we are starting to say, ‘Well, it might (be) worth an employee with benefits, from a cost standpoint.’”

Town planner duties would include assisting in development of the comprehensive plan and, on a more regular basis, being directly involved in the review process.

Members and subscribers make this story possible.
You can help support non-partisan, community journalism.

x
X