Lawton Economic Development Authority plans to hire director

Lawton Economic Development Authority is moving forward with plans to hire an executive director.

Authority members met in special session Tuesday to sign off on the document that sets the specifications for the person they want to coordinate the daily activities associated with LEDA’s economic development work, then won agreement Wednesday from the City Council to help fund the salary. That executive director will replace former Deputy City Manager Richard Rogalski, who had filled that role for LEDA as part of his City of Lawton staff duties. When Rogalski retired 2022, LEDA hired him as a consultant, but that contract expired this summer.

LEDA Chairman Fred Fitch said LEDA’s responsibilities have grown as Lawton has continued to create new Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, and the authority needs to hire someone to handle the day-to-day duties being handled by its volunteer members.

“The TIFs need to be managed,” Fitch said of the economic development tool that brings money to LEDA and others who receive ad valorem revenue because of the increased value of the property due to new development. “We need somebody who can assist us.”

That executive director also is going to assist the Lawton Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) because LEDA and LEDC will share the position. LEDC will provide office space for the executive director and pay 45 percent of his/her salary. LEDA will pay 55 percent of the position’s salary and will be the controlling agency.

While the executive director will have specific duties for each entity, there also will be common ground as they work on joint projects. That will include the Westwin Elements pilot plant project that will bring another TIF District to Lawton. Westwin will be the fourth functioning TIF district, but plans are being discussed or are under way for others, Fitch said.

The growing number of TIFs is the reason Fitch said he doesn’t anticipate a long, drawn-out process for hiring an executive director.

“I’m anxious to get someone on the TIF deal,” he said, adding he expects to fill the position well before the end of the year because there already is interest in the job from potential applicants who were waiting for the job description to be crafted.

“We want to fill this position. It is very critical. It’s one we’ve got to do,” Fitch told the council Wednesday, adding that LEDA hasn’t yet begun the search and has “no one in mind.”

LEDC will cover its share of the salary from the $63,000 salary that had been paid to its former projects and operations manager, who left this summer to work with Westwin Elements. Fitch said LEDC still needs a projects and operations manager, which is part of what the new executive director will be doing there.

LEDA’s share of the salary is coming from the City of Lawton, which was the reason for taking the item to the council on Wednesday. Council members unanimously agreed to designate $77,000 to LEDA to cover its share of funding, with Fitch saying that money would come from the economic development category of the hotel/motel tax. Funding is coming in a loan; when LEDA begins receiving its share of ad valorem revenue from the TIF districts, that loan would be repaid.

Fitch said the executive director will handle the TIF districts and all other economic development activities LEDA and LEDC may be involved in, to include reimbursements from the State of Oklahoma for the TIF district created for Republic Paperboard in the west industrial park.  As part of its development deal, ad valorem taxes for the plant were waived for the first five years, but the State of Oklahoma is reimbursing Lawton for that, Fitch said.

The job description sets a salary of $140,000 a year, split 55/45 between LEDA and LEDC. Fitch said that falls within the $125,000 to $185,000 range other Oklahoma economic development entities pay their directors.

Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren, one of the council’s two representatives on LEDA, said the decision will save money in the long run because the executive director can handle things that now are referred to contract attorneys from the Center for Economic Development Law.