The lone remaining staffer at the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority who served under former president and CEO Walter Monsour has resigned from the agency to pursue private business opportunities. Susannah Bing, who was vice president for finance and economic development, left her position at the RDA last week after more than six years to concentrate on a real estate development firm she has co-founded.
At this morning’s meeting of the RDA Board of Commissioners, Interim President Gwen Hamilton will introduce Bing’s replacement, Tara Titone, who was formerly with the Center for Planning Excellence.
Bing’s departure from the RDA follows that of several other staffers who played key roles at the agency during Monsour’s years at the helm. Former Director of Real Estate James Andermann left the agency last December, as did two administrative assistants. Their departures followed the exits of former vice president of administration Chip Boyles, who left in early 2014, and former vice president Mark Goodson, who left in 2013. Monsour resigned from the agency in November, amidst criticism that the RDA had no business plan and was running out of money.
Hamilton says the positions of Andermann and Bing have been filled and that she has a staff of four employees, which is enough to handle the agency’s current workload.
“As we move forward and find a path toward how to grow the agency and take on additional work we’ll need revenue and staffing,” she says. “But for now we have the staff we need.”
Consultants retained by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation are currently studying the RDA to help devise a business plan for the agency and determine how it might establish a permanent source of funding. That plan is expected to be presented some time this summer.
—Stephanie Riegel
