Councilmember Coonerty has applied for a job with the county.
City councilmember, former mayor, UCSC lecturer, and NextSpace co-founder Ryan Coonerty is preparing to further buff up his resume. Coonerty has applied to be the county’s next economic development coordinator.
Coonerty confirms a report that first appeared on Bruce Bratton’s blog last week, saying he decided to put himself in the running for the job.
“This is something I’ve done on the city council for seven years trying to attract and retain businesses,” Coonerty says. “And I thought it was important for the county to have an effective strategy to create jobs. I have a commitment to doing that.”
The job, which has been posted caled.org as well as the county website, pays between $86,916 to $115,872 a year.
A wordy job posting on the county website explains the winning candidate will work on grants, making economic development recommendations, and trying to make businesses want to come to Santa Cruz County. According to the June 2011 post, the coordinator also works on “commercial development of all types, mixed use developments, capital projects and infrastructure.”
Coonerty, whose father Neal serves as county supervisor, would be working for Planning Director Kathy Previsich, who has not returned our phone call and email for this story.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be offered to me, and I don’t know if I’m going to take it. It’s all still very much up in the air,” Coonerty says.
Coonerty isn’t ready to say whether he would stay on council or leave it if he gets offered the job.
City attorney John Barisone says it would not be a conflict of interest for Coonerty to keep his position on the city council if he takes the county job. “We’ve had city council members in the past always working at the university, and that’s another public agency,” Barisone says.
If Coonerty decides to leave, there are guidelines for how council fills a vacated seat. Under section 605 of the city charter, the council can either hold a special election or appoint a replacement to fill his seat and serve until the next general election, which in this case would be in November.
But obviously this is all still hypothetical. “It’s so early, when I haven't been offered the job or accepted the job, to get into those kinds of details,” says Coonerty.
