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Uploaded: Friday, November 2, 2012, 9:27 AM
Menlo Park seeks new business development manager
City decides to fill job left vacant by Dave Johnson's resignation
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by Sandy Brundage
Almanac Staff
When Business Development Manager Dave Johnson resigned at the end of 2011, many wondered whether Menlo Park would leave the position vacant to save on staff costs.
The first to hold that title in the city, Mr. Johnson served eight years, and saw the arrival of numerous companies, such as the Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel and Spa, Amici's and, of course, Facebook.
Now City Manager Alex McIntyre has confirmed that the city's seeking a replacement to help strengthen the local economy.
"With the adoption of the Downtown Plan, there is certainly opportunity to operationalize the plan and enhance the vibrancy in the downtown. Perhaps equally important is the chance to work with existing property owners in the City's commercial/industrial area (more or less along the 101) to strengthen the financial condition there," he told the Almanac in an email.
He said Facebook probably presents the greatest opportunity. "It can be argued that the eco-system that will develop as a result of Facebook's presence is something that the City should encourage and make sure that as those new companies begin to pop up, we can adequately site them in our community."
The workload might be too much for one person, Mr. McIntyre said, but the city's budget won't stretch farther than that.
"Of course, all of this is to be done in concert with what the City Council and community expects," he said.
The salary maxes out at $129,000 for the job, according to the city, with retirement benefits provided under Measure L provisions: a minimum retirement age of 60 and pension benefits at 2 percent of an employee's highest annual salary averaged over three years.
About 100 candidates applied for the position by last week's deadline – "unfortunately many who were not qualified," Mr. McIntyre noted -- and the city plans to start interviewing next week. "We have a number of interesting candidates so we will see how they might fit with the City's needs."
He declined to comment when asked if the applicants included Harry Mavrogenes, the former head of San Jose's redevelopment agency.
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Posted by LOOKING ON, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Nov 2, 2012 at 2:19 pm MP gets a new City Manager and of course he wants to expand his bureaucracy. MP needs a business developments manager like I need a hold in my head. Another waste of money.
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Posted by Norman, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Nov 2, 2012 at 3:18 pm I emailed Mr Johnson awhile ago asking him for his budget and what reports he had produced to show that he and/or that office was effective. He said they don't keep records nor track performance.
I don't know how the City Council can keep this office going unless they have a method of showing its efficacy or lack of it. I don't expect much though as the spenders of our money don't want us to know if its being spent properly. So it goes with government.
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Posted by Joker, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Nov 2, 2012 at 6:14 pm Get to work Mr. New City Manager. Use the staff you have on hand.
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Posted by Penny Wise, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Nov 2, 2012 at 11:24 pm Nice guy, Johnson, never earned his keep. He had nothing to do with most of the companies that decided to locate here -- sometimes he found out about their moves after the local press did. If anyone else is hired, should be on a commission-only basis.
By the way, I'm mystified by the comment that 100 people have applied. Where are city jobs advertised? I have never ever seen one listed on any job board. I'm sure I'm not the only resident who would love to apply for one of those high-paying, outstanding-benefits city jobs.
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Posted by MBA, a resident of the Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park neighborhood, on Nov 3, 2012 at 10:46 am The pathetic truth is that neither the city manager nor the council gave Johnson measurable objectives. He once gave a presentation about his 20+ goals! If a BD person is hired, he/she should be measured on 2 primary things - increasing sales tax and TOT revenue, retaining major businesses that produce revenue to the city, retaining small businesses that provide MP's character (I don't know how to measure that but helping Kepler's, Beltramo's, Flegel's thrive would be a start).
We do need a balanced portfolio of businesses. That's not just the City's job. The Chamber of Commerce should help a lot more; its board seems biased toward development rather than a thriving downtown and business community.
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Posted by the chamber?, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Nov 4, 2012 at 6:33 am to MBA who writes
"The Chamber of Commerce should help a lot more; its board seems biased toward development rather than a thriving downtown and business community."
You obviously know nothing about the MP Chamber. To sum up, nothing more than a social club for a few, that accomplishes nothing substantive.
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Posted by Professional Biz Resident, a resident of the Menlo Park: Belle Haven neighborhood, on Nov 7, 2012 at 3:38 am yes, the business park east of 101 does need some help in attracting and retaining businesses! With the Facebook campus nearby this should not be a very difficult task, but it may be if we hire someone from out of the area to do the job.
There are many local professionals who would love to have the job! A Biz Development Manager may not be the answer, but an Economic Development Coordinator could do the job and salary may be lower!
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Posted by MBA, a resident of the Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 8:52 am An Economic Development Coordinator role sounds perfect as long as the primary job performance metric is sales or hotel tax revenue to the city. Retention and attraction of businesses that do that would be suitable sub-objectives.
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