Politics & Government

Woodstock In No Rush To Fill Peppers' Position

Billy Peppers' last day will be on Nov. 30.

Woodstock officials want to wait before diving into the search to replace its director of economic services.

City Manager Jeff Moon said he plans to move slower on the quest to fill Billy Peppers' shoes. 

Peppers announced Wednesday that he will stepping down as the city's director of economic services. His last day with the city will be on Nov. 30 and he will start his new position with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. Peppers will work in the department's Community Development & Finance Division.

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"We will take a couple of weeks and look at how we want to approach filling Billy’s position," Moon said. "With his position and community development director open, we will evaluate our current organizational structure and see if we want to make any changes."

Richard McLeod, the city's former community development director, stepped down earlier this month to accept the same position with the city of Alpharetta. Moon said he hopes to start interviewing for that position during the first week of December. 

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Moon said he was "excited" for Peppers as he "now gets to share on the state level his expertise that he has developed on the local level." 

"While Billy has certainly been a integral part of the success of downtown, the beauty of having a good plan in place is that when someone leaves the plan remains," he added. "In other words, a lot of people have been involved in the success of downtown and with a solid plan in place, I have every reason to believe that downtown will continue to be successful."

Peppers will leave the position with a salary of $81,222.94. The salary range for the position is $68,330 to $103,972, according to Moon. 

Moon noted Billy wore several hats with the city--serving as the director of Main Street Woodstock and also serving as the executive director for the Woodstock Downtown Development Authority.

He said he will meet with both the DDA and the Main Street board to get their input before discussing the matter with the mayor and city council. 

Mayor Donnie Henriques noted Peppers will be missed by city staff and residents. He added he wasn't surprised by the announcement as Peppers "has too much talent." 

"He was always destined to be with the state," he said.

Council woman Tessa Basford added Peppers is a good fit for the role as he's already traveled the state and shared his talents with his counterparts. She added one only has to look at downtown Woodstock to measure how successful his efforts have been in the city.

While he is leaving the city, Basford noted Peppers will remain in touch with Woodstock officials and has offered to reach out and help the city in any way he can at the state level. She also said Peppers' leadership has helped steer the DDA and Main Street Woodstock in the right direction and they will continue to perform at exceptional levels. 

"That’s a nice legacy he leaves behind with the city," she said. 


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