Posted on: Tuesday, December 17, 2002

Kaua'i economic office under new control

Advertiser Staff

LIHUE, Kaua'i — Mayor Bryan Baptiste yesterday announced that he is moving the Office of Economic Development under the control of the new Department of Community Response and Development run by Vida Mossman.

Mossman will give up her additional duties as the county's public information officer and turn them over to a new staffer, yet to be selected.

Baptiste said he made the changes after hearing concerns at a meeting with business leaders Friday.

He said that placing economic development under an agency that is already charged with responding to community concerns makes sense.

"Businesses are an integral part of the community, and we're going to take a holistic approach toward supporting every facet of each community," the mayor said.

In addition to the economic development personnel, Mossman will have a staff of three people whose job is to maintain contact with the island's three districts: the north and east side, the central district, and the west side.

The mayor is also assigning department heads as liaisons to individual communities on the island. In most cases, Mossman said, that will be the community within which the department head lives. The mayor said he hopes the system will improve the efficiency of county government.