Charlotte County appoints interim economic development director

For the past eight years, Dave Gammon has served as Charlotte County’s economic development director.

Gammon handed in his resignation letter on Aug. 9, which was meant to take effect on Aug. 12, but Gammon left the same day.

When WINK News reporter Amy Galo reached out to Gammon to ask why, he told her it was “time to move on” and that he was happy with his accomplishments over the last eight years.

As for why the resignation was so sudden, Gammon expressed he had been in contact with a few commissioners beforehand and immediate resignation worked for all.

This has now paved the way for Kay Tracy, a 20-year Charlotte County employee who most recently worked as a business recruitment manager, to secure the important role.

Deciding who would take over was a no-brainer for the commission. Her name was brought up immediately after the commissioners formally accepted Gammon’s resignation at Monday’s meeting.

What took commissioners a while to decide on was whether she should be made interim economic development director (EDD) or just immediately replace Gammon as EDD.

“We have a department that is in shambles,” Chairman Bill Truex said as he urged his colleagues to formalize Tracy’s appointment. “We need certainty.”

Eventually, the commission decided to appoint Tracy as interim director, so that a contract could be drawn up and her salary negotiated.

“I’m honored,” said Kay Tracy right after receiving the news. “I’m really humbled that the commissioners have that much confidence in me. I’ve been here for 20 years, so I think that I can do a really good job.”

Tracy’s contract will be presented to commissioners at their second meeting in September.

Once approved, Tracy is expected to be the county’s next economic development director.

“Economic development is a very complex function of the community, and I think that we have a lot of work to do in certain areas of diversifying our economy,” said Tracy. “And creating job opportunities, good job opportunities, for our constituents, our community.”

During Monday’s meeting, commissioners also had a very lengthy discussion over a motion for an emergency ordinance related to economic development.

Commissioners expressed the need for more open communication between the EDD and the administrative and legal team, stating that past economic development directors were not effective at this.

The commission also brought up the position’s large turnover, having had four directors in the last 15 years.

The ordinance was for an amendment that would’ve repealed a 2010 charter amendment, which originally assigned the EDD position to report to the county commission.

“Who the economic development director reports to, it was a decision by the community at one time… 15 years ago,” explained Tracy.

Had commissioners moved forward with the motion, voters would have again had the power to decide whether the EDD should report to the county administrator instead on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Some commissioners thought this ordinance could be the answer to communication and oversight woes, others worried about the timing with the election so close.

Ultimately, the motion failed to pass. It needed at least four votes to be adopted. It was defeated 3-2, with Tiseo and Deutsch voting no.

As a result, the EDD will continue to report to the commission as it has since 2011.

However, commissioners did make it clear to Tracy, they feel there needs to be more transparency between the EDD, administrators and the legal team moving forward.

When WINK asked Tracy what her plan is, she said: “I communicate very well with administration right now, and I continue to want to do that.”