By Tao Woolfe
Boynton Beach opened negotiations with Joan Oliva, executive director of the Lake Worth Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, in hopes that she could be lured away to fill Boynton’s vacant CRA director’s job.
The City Commission, acting in its capacity as the CRA board, voted on March 21 to extend an offer to Oliva, who was considered by all the commissioners to be the strongest of three finalists.
“One applicant stood out as the best candidate — the one with CRA experience in Palm Beach County,” said Commissioner Angela Cruz, summing up the consensus.
Commissioner Woodrow Hay agreed that Oliva had the right experience and background, but said he was concerned about the higher proposed salary range, $140,000 to $210,000.
“The executive director of the CRA shouldn’t be making more than the city manager,” Hay said.
City Manager Daniel Dugger, hired in 2022, has an annual salary listed at $205,000.
Oliva, if she accepts the job, would be stepping into a position formerly held by Thuy Shutt. The commission fired Shutt at a tumultuous CRA meeting on Oct. 10.
The three commissioners who initiated the dismissal — Mayor Ty Penserga and Commissioners Aimee Kelley and Thomas Turkin — cited only unspecified “communication issues” between Shutt and city employees.
Timothy Tack, Boynton Beach’s assistant CRA director, has been serving as interim director.
Tack, a licensed engineer who has been with the CRA since 2021, said he is not interested in becoming the executive director at this time. He declined to comment on the city’s negotiations with Oliva.
Oliva has been the CRA director in Lake Worth Beach for 16 years, according to her online résumé. Prior to that, she served for two years with the Fort Lauderdale CRA, as a planning and design manager, from 2005 to 2007.
She holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Florida Atlantic University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from American University.
What does the executive director do? To start, the job description says the director “oversees a wide variety of redevelopment and economic development activities that include fiscal operations, policy making, capital project administration, BBCRA program management, redevelopment plan implementation, property acquisition, business incentives, new business development, business attraction and retention, special business promotion activities as well as the management and maintenance of BBCRA-owned properties.”
It goes on to say the director “serves as a liaison to businesses and property owners with the overall goal of enhancing the physical and economic character of the district.”
The list of duties, and preferred skills and experience, goes on for three pages.
The job was originally advertised in November. There were 64 responses, which were winnowed down to three finalists. If negotiations with Oliva are successful, the commission could announce her hiring at the April 9 CRA meeting.
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