Powder Springs Seeking Economic Development Director

The staffing ranks of Powder Springs City Hall are set to grow by one in the coming days as officials gear up to hire someone tasked with growing the city’s business sector.

City councilmen at an Aug. 21 called meeting approved an ordinance to create an Economic Development department and add a full-time director to head it.

According to the advertisement for the job, the city’s Economic Development director will support and coordinate “the economic development activities that promote and enhance the City of Powder Springs, including the activities of the Powder Springs Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and the Development Authority of Powder Springs (DAPS).” The person hired will recruit new businesses and industries to the city and work with existing businesses on expansions.

“We have wanted to have an economic development director as far back as 1996—someone to help us bring in development. That is a full-time job,” Mayor Pat Vaughn said. “Currently, we don’t have the staff that has the time to concentrate fully [on that].

“Now that we’re involved with the Cobb Chamber’s Competitive EDGE, we feel like the Chamber’s going to help us in economic development, and we need a person that is dedicated to bringing business into Powder Springs,” Vaughn added.

The salary range for the job is $59,204 to $91,766, depending on qualifications. Vaughn said this is the first year the city has been able to afford someone that can focus on economic development.

“When the economy sort of bombed and everything, we weren’t really able to fund another position,” she said. “But we have been able to fund it this year, and we think that it will reap the benefits.

“We have a charming city, and a charming downtown, and we have invested a great deal of money into the infrastructure and putting things in place to have it right for the businesses to come in here. And we have the land left in West Cobb, so that’s what we’re proud of—having the land to develop for businesses. So we feel the time is right [for this].”

A complete description of the Economic Development director job and its requirements is attached to this article in PDF form.

Other positions the city is currently trying to fill are the jobs of finance director and executive assistant. The descriptions, qualifications and other pertinent information on both jobs can be found in the attached PDF files.

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