Lawton’s one-time economic development expert is returning.
Former Deputy City Manager Richard Rogalski was named Thursday as executive director for the Lawton Economic Development Authority (LEDA), an entity the City Council created to oversee economic development issues, to include Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts. Rogalaski will hold the same title for the Lawton Economic Development Corporation, under an arrangement that has him working for both entities. Both boards signed off on the idea Thursday.
Rogalski, now city manager in Anadarko, has given that city 30-days notice that he will be leaving, although he will remain available to that entity to complete some projects, said LEDA Chairman Fred Fitch.
For Rogalski, the job is a return to a role he handled when he served as the City of Lawton’s community services director then deputy city manager before retiring in 2022. Rogalski served as a consultant for LEDA in the year after his retirement, but that contract expired this summer when LEDA board members indicated the time had come to hire an executive director.
Fitch said LEDA’s responsibilities have grown beyond the volunteer board’s ability to adequately oversee them, as Lawton continues to encourage and fund economic development by creating new TIF districts, including one being planned for the southwest Lawton pilot plant project Westwin Elements plans as a forerunner of its cobalt/nickel refinery.
Under terms crafted earlier this year, LEDA and the Lawton Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) will split Rogalski’s $140,000 annual salary 55/45. LEDA will cover its share from funding in the economic development category of the hotel-motel tax, action the City Council approved earlier this year. LEDC will cover its cost from the salary it had paid to its former projects and operations manager. Contracts that Rogalski holds with each entity specify his duties for each one.
While Rogalski will have his office at LEDC’s office at Southwest 3rd Street and West Gore Boulevard, LEDA will be his primary boss because it pays 55 percent of his salary, said Fitch, adding he (as LEDA chairman) and LEDC President Brad Cooksey will oversee Rogalski in his new duties.
While Rogalski will have specific duties for each entity, there also will be common ground on joint projects, officials have said. That will include the TIF District planned Westwin Elements pilot plant project, but Fitch has said others TIFs are being discussed.
“Nobody in the state knows as much TIFs and overlay districts, other than Dan Batchelor (lead attorney of the Center for Economic Development Law),” said Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren.
Fitch said Rogalski’s familiarity with TIFs and Lawton’s economic development projects, including Westwin Elements, was a primary reason for his selection. Fitch said Rogalski also holds an engineering degree and is familiar with Lawton.
“He knows all the rules we go by,” he said.
The professional services agreement approved Thursday specifies a one-year contract with a one-year renewal. His monthly salary for LEDA is based on a commitment of 150 hour per month of service to LEDA. He also is defined as an independent contractor who is not an employee of LEDA, LEDC or the City of Lawton, meaning he is not subject to the benefits of city employment.
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