City Dismisses Economic Development Director, Cemetery Superintendent

The City of Kimball has parted ways with Economic Development Director Larissa Binod.

Binod, who has worked as Economic Development Director for the City of Kimball since November 1, 2011, was terminated from her position on February 13.

“I went in to the office to have a discussion to formalize the agreement to move forward with the rail spur process. In the discussion and conversation, the hand writing was on the wall, and by the time I left that office, I no longer had a job,” Binod said.

According to Binod, her termination stems from a difference of vision between herself and City Administrator Daniel Ortiz on how to move forward in the city’s current pursuits. However, no formal reason was given for the action. Public report is not required by the state in the decision to terminate an employee.

“The letter of termination that I received states that working at the City of Kimball is at will, and the city can terminate an employee at any time with or without cause,” Binod said.

Staff members of the Recycle Center, including Binod and Spud Rowley, reportedly held a lengthy meeting during city hours on the day the city took action.

Though the situation is trying for Binod, she will still serve as the Director of Keep Kimball Beautiful and still plans to serve the City of Kimball in any way that she can.

“I want to be a conducive assistant to where our community goes. I don’t want to impede anybody from the fulfillment of the vision that they see powerful,” Binod said.

Contrary to the implications of the termination of her employment, Binod feels a level of success in her time working in city office.

“I generated the opportunities for our tourism industry to be something that could be vital, expanded and enriched. I am very pleased that we have a new community citizen in Jo Caskey and her guidance. I am very excited about that partnership. That to me is very, very inspiring to see, and I feel very privileged to have been part of that,” Binod said.

Binod expresses that, despite the current situation, she still hopes for the city to succeed in their current endeavors.

“I wish them all the luck and encouragement and support in fulfilling their vision that they have for our community,” Binod said.

According to Ortiz, Rowley, who has served as Cemetery Superintendent, will also no longer be working for the city.

Though city officials are not permitted to speak on personnel matters per state statutes, City Administrator Daniel Ortiz expressed that the city plans to move forward without further incident.

“In the short run right now, we’re coming together as a team and dividing up some of the responsibilities and duties that she had. I believe I will be taking on the bulk of what she was working on for the time period,” Ortiz said.

According to Ortiz, the city does not anticipate the current vacancy of the Economic Development Director position to stall the projects that were formerly under Binod’s responsibility.

“Our intention is to maintain the initiatives that we’ve embarked on already with regard to economic development i.e. the rail spur, the visitor’s center, and other aspects Larissa was working on,” Ortiz said.

The city has already started the process of searching for a new Economic Development Director, listing the job on both national and regional websites.

“We’ve put out the job announcement as testament to our willingness to go out and recruit someone as quickly as possible that can jump into that position, and we can catch them up to speed as quickly as we can so we can have a seamless transition as best we can,” Ortiz said.

The city is also looking for certain characteristics in candidates for the position in order to ensure a smooth transition to move Kimball forward.

“Our goal is to find someone who will understand economic development and the priorities and initiatives that we have going on. With that also, someone who can understand our level of commitment to maintaining the community’s values but at the same time diversifying our local economy and attracting new jobs to the community,” Ortiz said.

The city also plans to expand the scope of the Economic Development Director position by adding the title of Assistant to the City Administrator.

“There are no specific responsibilities that will be assigned to them, but being able to have that expansion in the title and responsibilities allows me and allows our organization to have flexible to assign that person to areas outside of economic development such as special research projects,” Ortiz said.

Oritz anticipates to do an initial review of all the applications received by the city for the position on February 28.