Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register
Some Springfield aldermen don’t think Janet Kirby, Benedictine University’s Springfield campus director, is the right person to be the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau acting director come June. So on Thursday, they requested an ordinance be drafted to defund the personnel line of the SCVB budget by $100,000, the equivalent of the acting director’s salary. The proposal will be considered Tuesday for emergency passage.
Kirby was offered the position Wednesday by Mayor Jim Langfelder after his permanent pick for the job, Scott Dahl, quit last week. Citing a “personal matter,” Dahl lasted two days as SCVB director before resigning. Langfelder cited the possible administration change after next spring’s election as one reason Kirby’s appointment was temporary. Department directors can serve in an acting role for up to a year without city council approval.
Though aldermen can’t hire or fire employees, they can control the level of the city’s spending. Four of the aldermen who support the ordinance include Ward 1 Ald. Chuck Redpath, Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso, Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin and Ward 10 Ald. Ralph Hanauer.
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Dahl has worked for the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association for more than 16 years. Aldermen said Dahl had an “ambitious” plan to raise the occupancy rate of the Springfield’s hotels, which pay a bed tax that funds the SCVB, to 60 percent. One of Dahl’s ideas, that Langfelder said he would like to implement, was to create an advisory board of city stakeholders that would weigh in on SCVB funding requests.
“We were impressed by that goal and motivation,” McMenamin said.
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Not only did the aldermen have an issue with Kirby’s lack of tourism experience, some cited concern that she didn’t live within the city limits, a rule for department directors by city code. If Kirby were to stay for more than a year, she would have to move into Springfield, Langfelder has said.
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Though the four aldermen were set against Kirby getting the job, they had different ideas on how the city should move forward if the ordinance were to pass.
McMenamin said he wanted the mayor to open a nationwide search for a long-term director. Both Hanauer and Redpath pointed to Pat Corcoran, the SCVB finance and administration manager who has been with the bureau for decades, as a better fit for the job. Corcoran did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 