DMI director to leave for Michigan job

MIDDLETOWN —

Patrick Kay will miss out on what he says will be a time of impressive growth in downtown Middletown.

Kay, the executive director of Downtown Middletown Inc., the nonprofit champion aimed at revitalizing and growing downtown, will resign a month and a half before his set two-year contract expires. He started with Middletown in January 2012 and will take on a similar position with a similar organization in Michigan at the end of November or first week of December.

“It’s a different opportunity, a different challenge,” said Kay, who will be the executive director of the Manistee Downtown Development Authority in Manistee, Michigan. “This was my choice to go as my contract was ending here. Because I knew that was coming up, I was looking at other options that were out there.”

Kay will continue to lead the day-to-day operations of DMI until Nov. 15. Under his guidance, DMI board chairman Roger Daniel said Kay has led the way to create new destinations to downtown and establish resources for new and small businesses.

“During the past two years, Patrick has provided much needed guidance as we structured DMI in a manner consistent with Heritage Ohio’s Main Street Program,” said Daniel.

Daniel also touted Kay’s leadership during a time of new business growth in downtown by administering the city’s façade grant program, and bringing new activities to Central Avenue and Broad Street, such as a farmer’s market, a 5K run, the Women’s Wine & Chocolate Walk, and the Red, White & Bluegrass.

Daniel said Kay and the board helped create a new downtown entertainment district to allow additional business expansion and are currently working to add several downtown buildings to the National Register of Historic Places, which will facilitate using historic tax credits so investors can rehabilitate downtown buildings.

Adriane Scherrer, owner of the We Can Business Incubator and co-organizer of the Broad Street Bash, said Manistee, Mich., is lucky to get Kay.

“I have a long relationship with the Main Street program and Patrick exceeded the timeline of the majority of Main Street professionals who are doing a brand new program,” Scherrer said. “He did in less than two years with Main Street what most Main Street professionals do in three years.”

Mary Ellen Clinard, a DMI board member, said Kay had a tough job to be the organization’s first director.

“Anytime you start a downtown revitalization program that’s modeled after national Main Street plan, which involves four components, the first year is mostly about laying the foundation,” she said. “Not a lot of visible things. It’s stuff that the community doesn’t see, but it has to be done in order to be able to move forward.”

But Clinard said Kay has given DMI “some really meaty tools to now be able to move forward.”

“I think what’s unique about a Main Street director of revitalization development, you have to be able to multitask. You don’t have to be an expert in everything, but you have to have your hand on the pulse to know who are the experts,” she said. “It takes a person who can wear a lot of different hats at the same time.”

Kay said Manistee, which is a town of around 6,200 on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, is a historic community, like Middletown, that he was looking to be a part of. But he said it wasn’t a choice over Manistee over Middletown.

“I wish Middletown all the best, and I will be back in this area because I have a lot of friends here,” said Kay, who ruled out a similar opportunity in Colorado because it would be easier to drive six hours rather than taking a plane.

Kay said while he’s been credited with a lot of DMI initiatives over the past two years, it took the community of downtown and the DMI board to make it happen.

“I was just one piece of the puzzle,” he said.

He does regret he won’t see the end result of the work he and the community have worked toward, and he will be back to check out the results.

“I feel like there is such a positive momentum that is happening right now that I’m kind of a little jealous because I won’t see some of the big projects,” Kay said. “There are a lot of cool projects coming up. If you thought the last two years were huge, the next year is just going to be amazing. It’s going to be really impressive.”

Unmatched coverage

Downtown Middletown Inc. has had a big hand in the development and progress of downtown. The Journal-News consistently reports on the activities of downtown and will follow the job search for a new DMI executive director.

For hire

A search for a new executive director for Downtown Middletown Inc. will begin immediately. All inquiries should be directed to the DMI offices at 513-217-4573 or email downtownmiddletown@gmail.com. DMI is supported by grants from the City, the Middletown Community Foundation, the Middletown Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and contributions from over 80 individual and corporate sponsors.