City housing specialist promoted

The city of Ashland is continuing to tap talent from within as it fills management positions. Housing Program Specialist Brandon Goldman, who oversees the city's affordable housing efforts, will become the senior planner in the Community Development Department. Former Senior Planner Maria Harris was promoted to planning manager to fill the position left vacant when Bill Molnar was appointed as department director in October 2007.

Molnar said Goldman is experienced in land use planning as well as affordable housing planning.

"This is a natural progression for him," Molnar said.

The city of Ashland funds affordable housing projects mainly through federal grants and also offers incentives for private developers to build affordable housing as part of subdivisions. For example, a developer can add more houses in a subdivision if a certain number are affordable.

"It has provided an opportunity not only for him, but for us to bolster our housing program to some degree," Molnar said. "The senior planner's focus is on long-range planning. Brandon brings a lot of housing background to that. I can't recall any long-range planning effort that didn't have a housing component. This just makes the housing program stronger."

Molnar said Goldman will continue working on his housing duties until the city has hired and trained a replacement housing program specialist.

Goldman said he envisions about a six-month transition period after the new housing program specialist is hired.

Applications for the job, which pays $47,100 to $58,824 per year plus benefits, are due on Feb. 29.

Goldman said the new housing program specialist will work for a community that recognizes the value of affordable housing, but he or she will face challenges ahead. Federal Community Development Block Grant funding for housing has been falling, along with state funding. Meanwhile, development and construction costs are rising.

"The housing program specialist will have to examine ways to both decrease development costs where possible and to find alternative funding," he said.

As housing program specialist, Goldman said he worked on several projects that involved long-range planning, including an inventory of the buildable land left in Ashland and an ordinance to control the conversion of for-rent apartments into for-sale condominiums.

He said he is excited to keep working for a community that values conservation and sustainability, and expects those values to be incorporated into most long-range planning in the future.

Meanwhile, the city of Ashland is also recruiting for an assistant city attorney since Richard Appicello was appointed city attorney.

Applications are due by Feb. 15 for the assistant city attorney position, which pays $62,706 to $70,640 per year plus benefits.

Public Works Director Paula Brown recently retired but is continuing to work part-time on projects for the city.

Applications for her former job were due Monday to the Sacramento, Calif. recruiting firm Peckham & McKenney.

The job pays $88,812 to $99,828 annually plus benefits.

Ashland Human Resources Director Tina Gray said that although the city has had some difficulty in recruiting managers in recent years, there was a great deal of interest in the public works director position.

Preliminary interviews of public works director candidates were scheduled for Feb. 11 through 14, with a recommendation of finalists on Feb. 15. The final interview process is set for Feb. 29.

Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 479-8199 or vlaldous@yahoo.com. To post a comment, visit www.dailytidings.com.