Libby Marshall says she thinks the board members of the Capital Community Economic-Industrial Development Authority are not being used to their full potential.
"Are we just appendages?" Marshall asked. "I'm really disappointed."
Marshall made her comments Thursday at a board meeting when the 2008-09 budget was approved.
It includes a 4 percent salary increase as approved by Franklin County Fiscal Court. The salaries for Kerrick and an administrative assistant account for $144,000, more than half the budget. There's also a $600 increase for automobile expenses because of the rising price of gas.
Marshall said she was upset that members of the board were not notified about meetings between the executive director and local business leaders.
Forty business owners were asked to provide comments and opinions on strategic planning for Frankfort and Franklin County, but only seven agreed to be interviewed.
Two more business people submitted comments anonymously and Marshall said the project was executed in a half-hearted manner. She said if board members had been notified, they could have helped interview community leaders or encouraged them to participate.
Executive Director Phil Kerrick said he wrote letters to the business leaders in May and called them again in early June. The meetings were held on June 10 and 17 and nothing was done half-hearted, he said.
Chairman Jim Burch said he didn't realize Marshall wanted to participate and said it was an "oversight" not to notify the board members.
"We are not trying to subterfuge you," Burch said.
Marshall said she'd feel better if she could tell taxpayers that development authority board members do more during the monthly meetings other than eat lunch and approve minutes and financial statements.
Burch said the board should hold Kerrick accountable for his work but not duplicate his efforts.
Marshall said she's never seen a personnel evaluation for Kerrick and is disappointed with the quality of the minutes provided during the meeting.
She has been involved with a number of boards and said she'll provide some recommendations at the next meeting.
Burch said he'll consider any suggestions. Tommy Thompson also said he was disappointed by the results of the survey but declined further comment.
Kerrick said the sample size of the survey response was too small to be useful.
However, the respondents indicated they want to see stronger local leadership and efforts to improve the quality of the local workforce.
They suggested hiring a lobbyist to work with the legislature and merging local government, Kerrick said.
Gus Ridgel also declined to comment and board members Hobbs Cheek and Ed McClure did not attend.
However, a quorum was present to pass the budget. The city and county
governments each contribute $90,000 to the operating fund of $224,000.
Although the board has requested an increase, the contributions have remained the same for several years.
Ridgel expressed concerns because the cash reserve for contingencies will be reduced to about $2,000.
"It's going to be pretty tight," he said.
Kerrick also reported on local economic development prospects and said Greenheck Fan Corp. plans to invest about $1 million at the industrial park near U.S. 60. He said Greenheck will create 15 new jobs and add about 21,000 square feet to its factory.
Kerrick also reported that Frankfort was ranked 31 among 577 micropolitan locations in the United States. In Kentucky, Frankfort ranked second only to Paducah.
The rankings were based a variety of factors including wages, employment and per capita income.