Mayor Kevin Smith announced four new appointments to city departments Tuesday.
Two of the department heads join others who worked under Smith during his 2003-2007 term, while the other two are new to his administration.
Greg Winkler is returning to the economic development department as a consultant, and will serve as interim director, according to a city news release. He will also provide leadership to the community development and planning departments.
Winkler will be contracted through his economic development consulting company, Lead Climber LLC, which he started almost eight years ago in order to work with the city. Winkler worked as a consulting corporate sales director during Smith’s first term for three and a half years.
Winkler said that he will devote around 50 hours a week to the job.
“My No. 1 goal is to try to increase the number of opportunities a city has to consider,” he said. “When you get into (an economic) downturn, the number of companies looking to locate, expand or consolidate decreases.
“I have to identify target markets that fit Anderson well. Then I have to identify companies within those markets due to capital, planning and position in the market place, and that have a high probability of expanding, re-locating or consolidating.”
Winkler’s job will be to find and make those contacts, connect them with the city to build a relationship, and hopefully convince them to consider Anderson as a new location.
He replaced Linda Dawson who was terminated by Smith and retired.
In the human relations department, Floyd Edwards will remain as its leader. Edwards was appointed during Smith’s first administration and has eight years of experience in that job. According to the news release, the department has seen a decrease in complaints under Floyd’s administration.
The new Board of Public Safety chairman is Bruce Dunham. Dunham currently works as a national sales manager for Connecticut Electric and for 23 years dedicated himself to public safety through a variety of positions including patrol officer, criminal investigator and jail commander at the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, the news release stated.
Dunham replaced Dick Wiley, who was terminated by Smith and retired.
Charlee Turner has been named the city’s new public information officer. Turner is a recent graduate of Ball State University and served as an intern for Smith during his campaign and election, which allowed her to meet city employees and community members.
Turner replaced Daniel Wohlberg, who was terminated by Smith.
Contact Melanie Hayes: 648-4250, melanie.hayes@heraldbulletin.com
