The Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas still has no permanent leader following a special meeting of the board Tuesday afternoon.
At the onset of the meeting, board members moved into a 90-minute executive session to “Interview and discuss a candidate for RDA President.” Following this, the membership convened a second 5-minute session before returning with no action.
Following the meeting, KVOE News spoke with Board Chair Jeff Williams, asking if there was any reportable progress made during the discussions, specifically if a candidate had been identified and may be moving forward in the hiring process.
Originally, the RDA had announced plans to have a candidate identified and hired by late July. Williams was asked Tuesday if there was a reason for those plans being pushed back.
Discussions and the search for a new permanent president have been ongoing for over a year and a half now, garnering a significant amount of discussion and focus by RDA membership in that time. With this in mind, KVOE News noted that it has been some time since any new economic development projects have been announced for the community and asked Williams if he felt the RDA had become stagnated due to the length of this search process.
Williams replied, “I don’t think we are at the point of stagnation yet, but it will happen if we don’t hire somebody.” Williams was then asked if there is a plan to change or eliminate any strategies when it comes to finding that “somebody?”
With just a little less than four months now remaining in the calendar year, KVOE News asked Williams what the chances are that the RDA will have a candidate identified and hired by the end of 2025. He stated it is his mission not to leave the chair position with the president’s role still empty.
The president search began back in early 2024 after then-president Chuck Scott was placed on leave before resigning in January. It did take a bit of a pause earlier this year due to the restructuring of the RDA board as requested by the Emporia City Commission earlier this year.
Currently, Lyle Butler is serving as the interim president until a candidate is hired for the permanent role. Butler replaced Jim Witt, who served in the interim role for roughly a year.
The RDA Board has its regular monthly meeting coming up next Friday inside of the Trusler Business Center.
