By TODD HELBERG
cnedit@crescent-news.com
The downtown director of Defiance's Development and Visitors Bureau (DDVB) will step down at month's end.
Former mayor Rita Kissner guided the DDVB in attaining "Main Street" status for the city last year, but now plans to move on to other pursuits. When the city achieved Main Street designation from Heritage Ohio -- as a tool for promoting and improving the downtown -- Kissner became the program's director.
She had presided over much of the leg work during a lengthy Main Street application process.
"When I took the position my intention, and the (DDVB) board's understanding, was to get the whole project off the ground," said Kissner, who was hired by DDVB in January 2007.
That has now been accomplished, but Kissner noted that other tasks also have been completed, such as helping DDVB secure a $400,000 downtown revitalization grant and applying for more to fund a future streetscape project. In addition, Kissner completed a grant application to fund courtesy boat docks along the Maumee River on West First Street.
"We are very grateful for all of Rita's hard work and dedication the past 18 months," said DDVB board president Scott Stambaugh. "The DDVB would not be as successful as we are today without her leadership."
Time was another factor as was the new focus of the Main Street director's position.
"We are expecting more from Rita than she has the time to really commit to," said DDVB vice president Pete Lundberg. "We want her in the storefronts and meeting business owners and working from her office downtown."
But, like Stambaugh, Lundberg praised Kissner for her work, saying, "I's my belief we would not be where we are without Rita. ... She has just been magnificent. It's a loss."
DDVB director Cindy Mack said she "learned a great deal" from working with Kissner, but added that the former mayor "has so much involvement in many other things" and "deserves the opportunity to spend her time on those."
These include her service on the board of trustees for Rurban Financial and Defiance College. Kissner is vice chairman of the college board and will become its board chairman in two years.
As for replacing Kissner, Stambaugh said Janet Hitchcock, a long-time downtown promoter, will take over on an interim basis. But Mack said a permanent replacement won't be named until the job description is fine-tuned.
"I don't think we'll post it immediately," said Mack. "We're still trying to work through a good job description before we go in that direction."