Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 2, 1995 TAG: 9509050036
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Litvin, who held his post for 101/2 years, is the area's second chief job developer in a month to quit over a conflict with his bosses.
Franklyn Moreno stepped down effective this week as executive director of the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance in Christiansburg, a position he held for five years.
Steps are being taken to keep each organization running until both men can be replaced. The New River organization has an interim director, Frank Crockett, an economic development specialist who works for Appalachian Power Co. Rockbridge area government officials and the commission's staff are covering the director's duties.
No recent studies show how long job developers generally stay in one position, but many forces work against their longevity.
Moreno said he is leaving because the alliance's board planned to change his benefits, perks and working conditions. Formerly marketing director for a coalition of 16 counties in southern Illinois, he said he took a cut in compensation when he accepted the New River job in 1990 and "found it was not what I should have done professionally or personally ... I didn't need to do that same thing all over again."
This was a good time to sever ties, he said, because his contract was up for renewal and summer is a slow time to hunt new jobs. He plans to restart a consulting business.
Litvin's departure was apparently prompted by disagreements that led the city councils of Lexington and Buena Vista to declare that they had lost confidence in him. The county Board of Supervisors split 3-2 in favor of a vote of confidence in Litvin. The three communities jointly fund the economic development commission.
"We're just unhappy with the way the economic development program was going and didn't believe he had the skills and ability to get it going in the direction we thought it should," said Lexington City Manager John Ellstadt.
Litvin acknowledged that his waning support prompted him to seek other work, but said he is leaving because he found a better job in economic development in Mississippi.
Although he said he stayed on good terms with most commission members, it became hard to please everyone he needed to, he said. "As you get new members and different emphasis, things just occur," Litvin said.
Economic developers often face the challenge of answering to a governing board whose membership - and expectations - are in flux, said one expert in the field.
"You have to make a lot of people happy and bounce a lot of balls," said Francine Gissey, who directs a University of Oklahoma continuing education program that trains economic developers. "It's the nature of the beast."
by CNB