ERVING — With this week’s promotion of Mariah Kurtz from assistant town planner to town planner, Erving now has an official Planning Department.
The Selectboard approved the position and promoted Kurtz during its Monday meeting. This change, Kurtz said, came about following discussions between herself and Town Administrator Bryan Smith regarding the unanticipated magnitude of responsibilities associated with Kurtz’s role. The creation of the town planner position merely recognizes responsibilities Kurtz had already undertaken transcendent of prior expectations, officials explained.
Kurtz said she was hired on Oct. 7, 2019 as “kind of an experiment” for the town as they sought assistance with planning initiatives. Smith recalled similar circumstances.
“We certainly didn’t know what would happen in the following two years, but we, I don’t think, anticipated how quickly lots of success would sort of be born from that process and what sort of capacity would be created from that,” Smith said.
He added that while “it appears so easy” for Kurtz to secure grants for town projects, the fruits of her labor surpass just financial benefits for Erving. He said she has also been a key public contact and negotiator with state agencies, a responsibility Kurtz said was largely outside her previous job description.
“Beyond just the grants and the projects, I think the relationships with our elected officials and delegations at the state level, our regional partners, our state colleagues … have grown in the last two years,” Smith continued, “and a lot of that is (due to) interaction that I had not anticipated with (the assistant town planner) role.”
Aside from defining these responsibilities, the town planner job description grants more autonomy and agency for Kurtz to oversee Planning Department staff. Although Kurtz said that as of now, there are no set plans to hire help or recruit interns to the department, the town will be open to this changing.
“We’re a small town, but we do a lot,” Selectboard Chair Jacob Smith commented.
Kurtz said she currently plans to continue working her usual 35 hours per week. Her hourly rate of pay will increase from $24.70 to $30.63 with this promotion.
“I think she’s demonstrated that she can absolutely rise to this occasion,” Bryan Smith said of Kurtz, who said she is “very excited and full of gratitude.”
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.