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Chamber urges dedicated contact; three candidates present for council vacancy
Summary
The Taney County Chamber urged the city to designate a business contact or a part‑time economic developer; council agreed to a six‑month evaluation period. Three applicants — Bill Kennedy, Alex Kelly and Kimberly Craft — made brief pitches for a vacant council seat; council deferred an appointment to the next meeting.
Administration asked council for six months to evaluate whether to refill the economic development director position, proposing consolidated staff mailboxes (economicdevelopment@taneytown.gov) and temporarily routing inquiries to existing staff. A representative of the Taney County Chamber of Commerce recommended the city designate a named contact person for businesses and suggested a part‑time economic development role as a cost‑effective option that could scale to full time if warranted.
Following that presentation three applicants for a vacant council seat made brief remarks:
- Bill Kennedy emphasized parks and recreation, urging development of Festival Park and noting potential revenue‑generating uses; he described experience on town boards.
- Alex Kelly, an applicant focused on infrastructure, emphasized smart growth, prioritizing the bypass and traffic planning and advocating clear, measurable objectives for Main Street vitality.
- Kimberly Craft said she would emphasize collaboration, community engagement and stewardship of taxpayer funds and expressed readiness to serve where needed.
Council agreed to consider the applications over the weekend and to discuss appointments at the next regular meeting; the administration will return with a recommended approach to the economic development contact and the six‑month evaluation plan.
