Seven months after taking on the newly created role of special events manager, Deanna Hurley found out last week that her position will not exist come October.
Because of what Interim City Manager David Sollenberger called a “timing issue,” Plant City’s Special Events program was cut July 1. All planned events, with the exception of the July 11 Girls’ Night Out, have been canceled.
Hurley is to be laid off Oct. 1. According to Sollenberger, it has nothing to do with her performance on the job.
“No reflections on her — I think she’s a hard worker,” he says. “It’s just a timing issue.”
The move was made to save money. At the June 23 City Commission meeting, Sollenberger said the event-planning program was not producing a “satisfactory return on investment” because the timing related to the development of Midtown was not positive.
The problem, even though many of Hurley’s events were held elsewhere, is that Midtown currently is still in development.
“The whole idea was to, as I understand it, to get the position established, particularly for Midtown,” Sollenberger says. “It would bring more people in. Looking at the vision plan for Midtown, this may be the type of activity that would be appropriate to do as building gets started.”
Sollenberger estimates the program’s budget to have been around $50,000, plus supporting expenses.
“The food truck rally, we had a couple of police officers there for four or five hours, and that’s extra money,” he says. “We also did the Welcome to Summer event. There were a lot of public works that went into that, as well as police time.”
With the elimination of Hurley’s position and her $45,000 per year salary, Sollenberger expects the cuts will save more than $50,000, which he says can be used for real property acquisition in the future. He is not, however, commenting on exactly what property could be acquired.
Hurley, who will go on maternity leave next month, may let Assistant City Manager Bill McDaniel assume her planning duties after the birth of her child.
After Girls’ Night Out, there aren’t many city-sponsored special events on the horizon. It’s possible that something new could come up between now and Oct. 1, but Sollenberger says nothing is concrete.
“That all remains to be worked out at this stage,” he says. “Certainly, there are activities like the bike show and the Christmas activities.”
A motorcycle ride to benefit the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum, scheduled for Sept. 6, is the only thing that still appears to be in the works.
Now, it appears that the future of Plant City special events hinges more on the development of Midtown than before.
“I think, when we get some of the building going on and more excitement, then that’s the time to attract people in,” Sollenberger says. “I think, for right now, the dollars need to be focused for other purposes.”
