When Gwen Hamilton became interim CEO of the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority one year ago, she said her top priority was to identify a permanent source of funding for the agency, which was then slated to run out of money by the end of this year.
In the 12 months since, Hamilton has not found a permanent funding source and a long-term business plan for the RDA that is being funded by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation has yet to be finalized. SSA Consultants’ Christel Slaughter, who has been working on the plan for much of 2015, has said she hopes to release the report soon, though it will be less of a business plan than an analysis of potential funding sources.
“There are a number of very viable alternatives so it is just going to be a function of where to go.” Slaughter said recently. “The board will have to lead this.”
In the meantime, the RDA has not run out of money and has cut expenses enough in recent months to survive another year, according to Hamilton. The agency’s 2015 budget was $1.1 million. Its 2016 budget will be $800,000.
Part of the savings have come through layoffs and attrition. Earlier this year, several key employees left the agency. Then, in September, Hamilton notified two of the remaining four employees their positions would be eliminated by the end of the year. One has since found other employment. The other will leave next month, which will leave the RDA with just Hamilton and one staffer.
Even with a skeleton staff, however, Hamilton says the agency is able to take care of the business of redevelopment. Earlier this year it transferred two adjudicated properties to developers who plan to bring them back into commerce, and it is working with nearly two dozen other developers interested in redeveloping blighted properties.
Additionally, the RDA received a planning grant this year that will cover the cost of writing a Request for Proposals to redevelop the former Entergy property at 1509 Government St. Fregonese and Associates has been retained to write the RFP, which Hamilton hopes will be completed and issued some time in February.
The RDA has also applied for a $30 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in conjunction with the Mayor’s office and the Housing Authority of Baton Rouge. If awarded, the grant would help fund the development of mixed income housing at Ardendale, the urban village under construction in the area formerly known as Smiley Heights.
The grant application was due Monday, but the RDA and city parish won’t know until late summer whether they will receive all or part of the requested amount. Even if they do, it won’t help the RDA cover operating expenses. Still, Hamilton is proud of where the agency is today.
“If you had asked me one year ago where we would be in November of 2015 I would have told you I didn’t have a clue,” she says. “But I find myself now with a budget that is adapted to meet my needs and we are hanging on.”
—Stephanie Riegel
