Economic Development - Economic and Community Development Coordinator

The Economic and Community Development Coordinator is part of the Mayor’s office and reports directly to the Economic and Community Development Director. This position is responsible for supporting the Economic and Community Development Director with the implementation of the Economic and Community Development plan with a specific focus on the recruitment of business and enterprise investors to locate in the City of Lebanon. This position collaborates with city and business community partners to improve the business climate, consistent with community values. The focus of the Department is to attract new businesses, increase the city tax base and diversify our revenues with new job creation. This position is to offer support to the Economic and Community Development Director by coordinating activities within the realm of Economic Development. This role will include coordinating business retention programs, communicating with existing businesses, and working with city staff to help a smooth process for development. RESPONSIBILITIES Coordinates activities within the realm of Economic and Community Development; administer the economic development program including prospect development, industry contacts, and business retention with industry representatives, to encourage locations within the City of Lebanon. Administration of services and activities of the Economic Development Division. Provides support to the Economic and Community Development Director with the implementation of goals, objectives, policies, and priorities for the economic development program; supports new and existing business development and expansion strategy for the City. Supports the Economic and Community Development Director in administering economic development policies and procedures; as well as supporting the design, implementation, and administratively updating targeted industry recruitment marketing plans. Supports the Economic and Community Development Director with planning, marketing, and directing the business recruitment, retention, and expansion program; identifies quality business prospects and establishes and supports execution of marketing campaigns to attract those businesses to the City. Maintains effective working relationships with developers, brokers, and other resources for bringing business prospects to the City. Works closely with Economic Development Director in building and maintaining positive working relationships with existing Lebanon businesses to encourage business expansion projects; design, produce, present, and supervise City presentations to business prospects. Maintains inventory of pertinent information and statistics on all aspects of Lebanon; and maintain the CRM program and maintain a database of business prospects, available land sites and available buildings. Participates in regional activities to support Economic Development Director in promoting Lebanon to the development community and to business prospects. Partners with Economic and Community Development Director while interacting on a regular basis with the City’s Public Works and Planning Departments concerning zoning, land use, infrastructure, and in the development of plans. Develops and maintains a positive working relationship with the business community. Collaborates with various Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Administration and participate in local business activities and organizations. Conducts public relation outreach efforts to inform broad-based and specific target audiences regarding activities and information about the City of Lebanon, including media, social media, community and industry specific organizations, business groups, peer groups, website tools, printed material interviews, speeches, events, conferences, and meetings. Leverages social media to engage, follow and build relationships with prospective and existing companies. Communicates and provide standard progress reports and updates to Economic and Community Development Director. Attend all required meetings, externally and internally. OTHER DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Assist the Economic and Community Development Director in the administration of other economic development projects as directed. May attend and participate in professional group meetings. Must stay abreast of new trends and innovations in the field of economic development. May travel to other locations as required to represent the City's economic and development interests. Under limited supervision, this position performs professional and administrative tasks to coordinate the logistics and implement multi-faceted special events for the City of Lebanon. Plans, directs, controls, and supervises all aspects of event execution organizes vendors for events, organizes volunteers to staff events and manages social media and other communications to the public regarding upcoming events. Manages social media content related to events. Coordinates with IT Department to manage, maintain and update content on the City's web pages. Represents the City of Lebanon at public events, festivals and other special or community events. Coordinates and chairs committees related to community events. Perform other duties as assigned. KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES Skills in planning, organizing, initiating, supervising, and implementing a marketing program for City of Lebanon Special Events and Programs. Knowledge in marketing and events. Knowledge of media and public relations policies, practices, and procedures. Knowledge of public information principles and practices of public relations media. Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with associates, local businesses, the media, and the general public. Knowledge of operations for standard software database, word processing programs including Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint, Photoshop, Illustrator and publishing software and CMS (website) software. Ability to maintain effective working relationships with other employees and the public and to deal with public relations problems courteously and tactfully. Ability to establish and maintain effective and professional working relationships with vendors, finance staff, other department heads and governmental officials. Knowledge of current office practices and procedures and knowledge of the operation of standard office equipment and software. Ability to prepare and maintain accurate and concise records and reports. Ability to understand and effectively carry out verbal and written instructions. Ability to communicate effectively with other members of the staff, supervisor, and the public. Ability to communicate in both written and verbal form. Ability to develop, interpret and implement local policies and procedures; written instructions and general correspondence; and Federal, State, and local regulations. Ability to define problems and deal with a variety of situations. Ability to think quickly, maintain self-control, and adapt to stressful situations. Ability to maintain discretion regarding business-related files, reports, and conversations, within the provision of open records law and other applicable State and Federal Statutes and Regulations. Organizational and time management skills needed to meet deadlines. Must have ability to work accurately with attention to detail. Ability to maintain confidentiality. Ability to work the allocated hours of the position including some nights and weekends during special events. CERTIFICATION Tennessee Certified Economic Developer - TCED, is required and must be obtained within 24 months of hire. DRIVER'S LICENSE Must have a valid Tennessee Driver's License and clear driving record. EDUCATION Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in economic development, political science, public administration, urban planning, marketing, management, business administration or related field is required. An associate’s degree in marketing, business, management or related field plus a combination of training and relevant professional experience may be considered in lieu of a bachelor’s degree. EXPERIENCE Must have a minimum of 1-year prior work experience in planning, land use, marketing, business, public administration, or related field. Must have a minimum of 3 years of relevant Economic Development professional experience in lieu of a bachelor’s degree. Some knowledge of zoning, community planning principals, land use and growth management concepts, infrastructure improvement, urban planning and budgeting is strongly desired. OTHER REQUIREMENTS Must possess strong oral and written communication skills. Must possess strong familiarity with business development, finance, and marketing. SOFTWARE SKILLS Prior CRM or database experience is required. Strong Adobe and MS Office Skills are required, must be proficient with MS Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. TRAVEL Some overnight travel may occasionally be required. Must be able to travel locally, throughout Tennessee and at times, other interstate travel or flights may be required. Must be able to operate a motor vehicle. WORK ENVIRONMENT AND EQUIPMENT The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. This job is performed generally in an office environment using general office equipment. Some travel between City offices is required to conduct meetings and presentations. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet to moderate. This position requires regular and reliable attendance and the employee's physical presence at the workplace in order to perform the essential duties of this role. Must be able to operate motor vehicle to drive to other City locations for meetings and occasional job-related travel to meet prospects and attend conferences. Attendance at council meetings, work sessions, staff meetings, training sessions and other meetings may be required, as directed by the Economic and Community Development Director. PHYSICAL DEMANDS The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to talk or hear. The employee is also required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, and to handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. Visual acuity is required for preparing and analyzing written or computer data, visual inspection involving small defects and/or small parts, use of measuring devices, operation of motor vehicles, determining the accuracy and thoroughness of work and observing general surroundings and activities. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds or more. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS It shall be the responsibility of the City of Lebanon Economic and Community Development Director and Human Resources Director to assess the type(s) of reasonable accommodations which may be necessary to allow the individual to perform the essential functions of this role and to provide such necessary reasonable accommodations to a qualified individual with a disability, provided that nothing herein shall be construed to require the provision of reasonable accommodations if doing so will impose an undue hardship on the employing agency or a direct threat to the safety of himself/herself or others.

Salary : $65,104 - $88,088