The City of Duluth opens position ahead of economic study results

The City of Duluth has opened the Director of Planning and Economic Development position and are currently searching for a candidate to fill the role.

This happening after Former Director, Chris Fleege, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 61.

You can find the link to the job position here.

At a press conference Larson stated that this is an exciting time for a candidate to step into this position with the amount of projects going on in Duluth. The city has experienced three straight years of record breaking numbers of permits and construction, but it also presents a challenge to city employees.

“What I will say is that we are on our target with things. We are stretched, and our staff is amazing, and their workload is really high. Again going back to that, comes the need to really continue to expand our tax base and grow our tax base so that we continue to reinvest into the city and the city staff,” says Larson.

Mayor Emily Larson also announced the results of a recent Economic Development study. The study had the community fill out a survey about the economic development in Duluth and what they say works and doesn’t work.

Larson says, “There can be a lack of clarity of sharing what we are doing. I think people want a stronger sense of ‘hey when I come in with my permit, where am I in the queue?’ There’s very strong communication things we can do differently. But what came through really clear is that people have confidence in who the city is, confidence in who the workers are, and now we just need to harness it all together.”