New IDA CEO Sarah Evers outlines 90‑day plan: dashboards, policy review and community programs

Sarah Evers, the IDA’s newly appointed CEO, presented a 90‑day plan to the board that focuses on financial clarity, policy and process updates, communications and community engagement.

Evers said staff will build a financial dashboard showing allocated and unallocated balances, outstanding tenant amounts and project budgets to improve transparency for the board, county commissioners and the public. She said the IDA will conduct a comprehensive review of its $45 million budget, refine expense tracking, review existing contracts for cost savings and implement a project closeout report to reconcile budgets and document lessons learned.

The plan calls for a projects inventory that ranks initiatives by alignment with the board’s five pillars, impact to the community and site readiness; it will identify zoning, permitting and infrastructure constraints that affect readiness. Evers said procurement and other operational policies will be reviewed against state and federal standards and peer organizations to strengthen accountability.

On community programming, Evers proposed placemaking efforts including a business pitch contest to find an operator for the RIFE building restaurant space, quarterly business check‑ins to assess workforce and capital needs, and a community committee aimed at residents aged 25–45 to generate new ideas aligned with IDA priorities. She also said staff will implement weekly leadership huddles and monthly project‑management updates for internal alignment.

Board members praised the dashboard idea and the communications focus; Evers said staff will deliver updates in board meetings in subsequent months and bring action items forward over the remainder of the year.