Baughman’s departure paves way for new economic development vision in city

Jeff Downes’ priority is economic development. It was when he worked for the City of Montgomery, and that focus is quickly becoming evident in Vestavia Hills.

But Downes brought more than just a perspective when he signed on as city manager – he brought a plan. And the first step in taking the city the direction he wants to go involved changing the way Vestavia Hills is presented to the world.

It also meant changing who presents it.

 “As a result of the restructuring of the City's economic development program, it was decided that Mr. [Fred] Baughman's probationary employment would end on Sept. 20, 2013,” Downes said in an email Sept. 6. “[Baughman] is currently working through a transition period until Sept. 20.”

The City of Vestavia Hills hired Baughman as economic development director on Oct. 1, 2012 to serve for a one-year probationary period. Downes said that since Baughman was not a contract employee, there is no severance pay applicable to his employment.

Councilman George Pierce said Baughman was hired in response to a request by former City Manager Randy Robertson. Robertson, Pierce said, had economic development experience but felt applying his time there detracted from his ability to manage City operations. So, he requested the Council hire a person to oversee that department.

Downes has a different take. He wants to focus his time on development, and that decision aligns with the Council’s priorities.

“One of our main discussion points when we were considering hiring Jeff [Downes] was that we were going to have to give him some latitude to develop his own programs,” Pierce said. “This is part of plan to make that happen, and the Council endorsed it.”

The Council’s vision, identified more than a decade ago, is to become less dependent on ad valorem tax, or property tax, and more reliant on revenue from sales tax. Downes was brought in due to his track record in that area.

His success in developing the Montgomery Riverwalk – among many other positive projects he was a part of during his 27 years in Montgomery administration – was one of the selling points for the Council in choosing him over other candidates.

“He was a champion for bringing develop to Montgomery and being a visionary,” said Melanie Golson, outreach coordinator with the City of Montgomery Department of Development. “He was always able to bring the right people to table do exactly what needed to be done.”

Downes’ plan for Vestavia Hills development is to take the money currently used to fund a single, full-time employee – in this case Baughman – and repurpose it to be used by a team for broad, strategic growth. Baughman’s departure is, from this perspective, based on potential. Vestavia Hills can recruit more businesses and take better care of the ones within its limits by using a group rather than a single individual.

“I have no criticism of [Baughman] or any of his work,” Downes said. “He did a fine job in a limited period of time in creating materials, factors and efforts to push this city forward. But for us to be able to broadly succeed, we needed to broaden the team.”

Downes said the team he intends to build would include consultants who are experts in developing retail and industry and engineering and planning consultants who can react to the needs of developers. He also said the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce would play a large role.

He added that incentive programs initiated by Baughman would remain in place but would be a small portion of recruiting efforts.

“We can’t do a cookie-cutter approach to economic development,” he said. “We have to show to any potential business that wants to come here that we are open for business and will not be constrained. If there is a win-win, we will talk about it.”

Baughman’s departure should pave the way for Downes to begin operating in Vestavia Hills in a similar fashion to how he did in Montgomery. And if the past is any indication, residents could be in for a smooth, productive ride.

“Everything he did was very planned and well documented, and everybody he worked with knew the playbook,” Golson said. “You’ve got a gem, and we do miss him. Over the long term, you’ll see he’s going to change Vestavia Hills for the better.”