Dr. John Hubbard named Wilmer EDC executive director

WILMER – While Dr. John Hubbard officially stepped down as Wilmer’s interim city administrator last week at Thursday’s council meeting, he now has officially stepped into the role as executive director of EDC.

He was named to the position in a 3-2 vote, with council members Jeff Steele and Phyllis Slough voting against.

Hubbard’s last day as interim city manager was this past Friday.

His role as executive director of EDC is a contractual position and has started immediately.

“Wilmer is in a great position with lots of things happening,” Hubbard said. “There is the location and so many things going for this city and we are moving forward.”

He pointed out a few of his top objectives are first of all to find a way to bring a grocery store to the city, a move involving the Economic Development Corporation Type A Board.

For a Type B Board action, Hubbard said he would like to see more community development – for example involving the city’s parks.

Hubbard said he would also like to suggest the city do a forensic audit.

A little more costly, a forensic audit is a more thorough audit than is the annual required audit.

The city council will also be reviewing candidates for the city administrator’s job with two candidates currently in the final running. Until the time a new city administrator is hired, Wilmer Mayor Emmanuel Wealthy said over the weekend she would be taking on those duties.

Delinquent utility billing, municipal court collection and overall collection fees to defray the costs of collection on delinquent items were also discussed at Thursday night’s meeting. Council was considering legal firms to hire to perform services for the collection of unpaid fines as needed for the city.