SEBASTIAN – A business analyst will not be moving into Sebastian’s redevelopment area any time soon, city leaders decided Wednesday evening.
They voted 3-2 not to spend an estimated $20,000 from their redevelopment monies to fund the part-time position through Indian River State College’s Small Business Development Center.
“If we wait until there’s no businesses left in the (Community Redevelopment Area) we won’t need a business analyst after all,” Mayor Richard Gillmor said when it was apparent he did not have enough votes for the funding.
He and Vice Mayor Jim Hill supported the idea of using the funds to make a grant to the college for the position. They and the other members of the Sebastian City Council make up the members of the CRA board.
The analyst would be tasked with assisting business owners – or would-be owners – in attaining financing, banking, cash management and other issues associated with starting or managing a small business.
Other members on the Community Redevelopment Agency board questioned the use of CRA monies for a service that would be open for anyone from anywhere.
While Mayor Gillmor’s intent was to establish a person within the redevelopment area to help the businesses there, any business owner – from elsewhere in the city, from Fellsmere, or other parts of the county – could have used the business analysts services.
Agency member Andrea Coy suggested the city allocate a grant to the college from the city’s general fund instead of using limited redevelopment monies.
“I would be far more comfortable,” she said of supporting the measure. Coy added that she was not against the mayor’s recommendation, only the way it would be funded.
Agency member Don Wright voiced concern regarding how the recommendation for a business analyst came about, that it did not come from the business owners in the redevelopment area.
“I didn’t see the demand” coming from the businesses, he said, calling this a “top down” rather than a “bottom up” approach.
The idea for a business analyst came from discussions between Mayor Gillmor and members of the IRSC Small Business Development Center.
Wright pointed out that there are other small business support programs the city could tie into or recommend to the businesses.
“We’re not rolling in a ton of money,” he said.
Wright also told his fellow members that they have other things they need to spend their redevelopment money on – including a reassessment of the CRA Master Plan.
“This might not be the best use of our money,” he said of the business analyst funding.
Member Eugene Wolff, too, questioned the proposed expenditure, especially before the city has finalized its budget.
“I’m very reluctant to support” the position, Wolff said.