Peterborough is hiring an Assistant Planner in a return to the 2019 staff setup in the Office of Community Development, after a year where the town funded a part-time Community and Economic Development Coordinator position instead.
“We’re adding back some of the planning-related activities that the position had before, so the Assistant Town Planner job description, which is more inclusive, made more sense,” Town Administrator Nicole Macstay said when asked about the change.
The Assistant Planner serves under the Town Planner, and is expected to “compile and analyze data on economic, social, and governmental factors and trends impacting the local economy,” propose policies and programs to benefit the town’s businesses and residents, do promotional and marketing work for the town, and help the Economic Development Authority, the TIF District Advisory Committees, the Master Plan Steering Committee, and other boards. It is a full-time position with benefits, and applications are due by Aug. 20 at 4 p.m., according to the job posting on the town website.
The short-lived Community and Economic Development Coordinator position was borne out of disparate qualifications among the applicants for the Planning Director position in January 2020, following the departure of Planning Director Peter Throop and Assistant Planner Kristen Bixby, as reported in June 2020. MacStay and then-Town Administrator Rodney Bartlett reorganized the duties of the two positions after noting that applicants either had planning or economic development experience, but not both, and ultimately hired Danica Melone as Town Planner and then-Select Board member Karen Hatcher as CEDC. Hatcher’s hire generated substantial discussion about whether it was a conflict of interest to have a Select Board member serving as a town employee. Ultimately, Hatcher withdrew from the 2021 Select Board race after discovering that Peterborough’s employee handbook prohibits town staff from serving on the Select Board, something she had been previously unaware of, she said. Hatcher resigned from the CEDC position this July.