Los Gatos Economic Vitality Manager Jessica von Borck's final Town Council meeting was Wednesday as she's accepted a job with the City of Fremont.
Los Gatos Town Manager Greg Larson said he was saddened to see her go and called her move a "tremendous promotional opportunity" for the business development leader.
As economic vitality manager, von Borck has been responsible for business retention, attraction, location, and expansion services and small business resources information.
It was not announced whether the town is in the process of looking for a replacement for the position.
Von Borck was hired by the town in 2009. "It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with such a talented and committed group of professionals within the Town organization. I have equally enjoyed my experience working with the Town’s exceptional businesses. It has been satisfying to see them thrive through adverse times and come together during the economic downturn to push themselves to excellence. I was happy to be a part of that," she said in an email interview.
She said some of her accomplishments as economic vitality manager were the relationships that have been built with the Town’s business community. "A community’s corporate citizens are an essential piece of their fabric. A testament to that is the Town’s thriving business community, ranging from independent retailers to national chains and from start-up clean tech companies to mega players on the global stage, all of which contribute to the Town’s vitality," she said.
Los Gatos is fortunate to have a bit of everything, she added, and noted she was also proud of the programming created out of the economic vitality office that celebrated and supported local businesses in a meaningful way.
The town is in the process of determining who will be replacing von Borck.
Von Borck will become Fremont's downtown project manager facilitating the implementation of a 110-acre downtown plan, including public/private development, enhanced public infrastructure, and renovated civic offices and a new performing arts center. She will also be contributing to the development of the Warm Springs area, which is an 850-acre employment-based transit oriented development.
Why was the town so successful without a Vitality Manager during the 70s 80s and 90s. ? The money would better spent placing full page adds in the Merc. extolling the charm of our town. The job could easily be turned over to the Chamber of Commerce. I think we even paid them in the past to do this. The job as I remember it is a support position for the town manager. Lets just allow him to work a little harder and save the money. Lets go back to farming this out to the Chamber and get someone cheaper to answer the phone in the managers office.