Red Bank Mayor John Roberts
Red Bank commissioners interviewing their final city manager candidate Wednesday asked why he would leave his post at a successful downtown development group in North Carolina to work in Red Bank.
It’s a city with “a lot of issues,” in the words of one commissioner.
Randy Hemann, of Salisbury, N.C., has served about 15 years as executive director of Downtown Salisbury Inc. During his interview in Red Bank City Hall, Hemann highlighted $70 million in development in Salisbury since the late 1990s. He also cited historical preservation and new entertainment and arts districts as keys to the town’s revival.
“The transformation in our town has been pretty phenomenal,” he said.
Commissioners asked Hemann if he was up for dealing with Red Bank’s chronic problems with vacant business buildings and housing code violations.