Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register
Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder doesn’t know if or when he would bring in a replacement for Val Yazell, who was terminated as the city’s economic development director Thursday.
“It’s under review right now,” Langfelder said Monday. “People are asking who are you bringing in? I didn’t intend to bring in anybody currently, but eventually, that’s always a possibility.”
Langfelder said he’s meeting with each of the office’s seven employees. There are two other vacancies in addition to Yazell’s.
“We’re assessing it,” Langfelder added. “There’s no timetable at this point. There are a lot of irons in the fire and so we’re going to make sure we move forward in a progressive manner.”
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said Yazell’s strength was “knowing lots of people here in town,” pointing to her owning businesses and her time as interim president and CEO of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce.
The technical aspects of the development tools used by the city — the ins and outs of tax increment financing, enterprise zones and community block grants — were “new territory for her when she came in and a difficult territory to learn,” McMenamin said.
“The mayor has his own reasons for seeking another economic development director,” he added.
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Langfelder dismissed as “wild speculation” reports that a disagreement between Yazell and him involving money to be spent to fix a building used by the Springfield NAACP on 11th Street led to her departure.
Meanwhile, a special city council meeting Tuesday that was to take up the Legacy Sports Complex question was canceled over the weekend.
The two parties are still hammering out some key points, Langfelder said.
A committee of the whole meeting will go on at 5:30 p.m. in city council chambers.
The mayor has called the $65 million complex, planned for a 95-acre area behind Scheels off MacArthur Boulevard near Interstate 72, “a gamechanger” for the city.
The city would be on the line for 50 percent of that price tag, which would be covered through a 1 percent increase in the hotel/motel tax citywide and a sales tax incentive in that area, Langfelder said.
One of the issues to still consider, said corporation counsel James Zerkle, was how a rebate on the city’s portion of sales tax collected in the South Central Business District would be counted with regards to the construction financing.
There is also the length of the building project.
“It was contemplated that it would be done in roughly two years and (Legacy Pointe officials are) asking for five years,” Zerkle said.
Langfelder said he is “pushing” for an April 6 vote on the matter.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 