Aug. 27--The nonprofit corporation charged with redeveloping downtown Bowling Green is moving toward hiring a full-time professional director, with board members agreeing to advertise for applicants soon, although they won't be able to pay that person for some time.

"Until the TIF bonds are issued, we really don't have the money to pay somebody," said Mary Cohron, chair of the Warren County Downtown Economic Development Authority.

She referred to bonds backed by future tax revenues from within the 106-acre Tax Increment Financing district. Those bonds are expected to go out late this year

The full-time director is expected to be highly paid, but the board did not openly discuss what the salary range is likely to be. The extent of the search is undecided; board members discussed whether to look just within the region or advertise nationally. Cohron said she's already gotten several resumes from local residents.

Board member Patsy Sloan asked if the director wouldn't also need clerical help, but board member Doug Gorman said it would be better for that person to do all the paperwork personally -- at least to begin with -- to ensure they really understood all details of the job. The list of job duties was derived from requirements in the bond documents, and reviewed by city staff, Cohron said.

She said Warren County Attorney Amy Milliken has confirmed that an agency director could be covered by the county's insurance and benefit system, so long as that cost is reimbursed to the county by the authority.

The city's $25 million bond issue, sold to build the baseball park that's now under construction, can't be used to pay a director, said city Chief Financial Officer Jeff Meisel. Over the long term, that pay will have to come from tax money flowing into the authority from new jobs and development in the downtown district, he said.

"When will we start having TIF revenues in our coffers?" attorney Kevin Brooks asked.

City occupational tax paid by construction workers now on-site is being tracked, and will constitute the first receipts, Meisel said. The first permanent positions that will contribute to the director's pay -- and eventual repayment of the bonds -- will probably be those at the ballpark itself, he said.

David Butler of Alliance Corp. said he's satisfied with progress on the ballpark so far, notwithstanding board members' jokes about hoping that the first game played there is a night game, allowing a few more hours to finish up.

"We've hit more rock than was anticipated," Butler said. About 60 workers are at the site every day now, and that should double soon as more steel and concrete work is bid out, he said.

Butler said that $491,748.27 from the city bonds was unused and is coming back to the authority. After a closed session, the board agreed to spend $333,000 -- up to $217,000 for architectural services and $91,000 to buy two more properties for the garage, with the remaining $25,000 going to fix up a new office for the Commonwealth of Kentucky Probation and Parole office on State Street. It's now within the site of a planned parking garage on College Street.

To see more of the Bowling Green Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bgdailynews.com. Copyright © 2008, The Daily News, Bowling Green, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Copyright 2008 Bowling Green Daily News