PROVIDENCE – Faced with staffing shortages and a growing set of programs, the state’s economic development arm is spending more money on consultants to help with communications and hiring.
The R.I. Commerce Corp. board of directors on Monday unanimously approved a combined $45,000 in additional funding for two Rhode Island consulting firms, which it has previously used, for communications and executive search services.
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The board approved an additional $30,000 to communications firm Duffy & Shanley Inc. following an initial $20,000 contract signed with the firm several months ago for “on-call communications.”
Daniela Fairchild, Commerce’s operations and special projects director, said the extra money will cover “a few more months” of similar emergency communications aid. R.I. Commerce has lost several of its top communications staffers in recent months, including Matthew Sheaff, who went to Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s office, and Jennifer McGee, who took a job with Johnson & Wales University. Earlier this month, R.I. Commerce named Lindsay Russell, a former staffer to U.S. Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., as deputy communications secretary.
The board also approved an additional $15,000 to tack on to its contract with executive search firm O’Neill Consulting Group Inc. The money, coupled with a contract extension, will help the South Kingstown-based search firm find a new human resources manager for R.I. Commerce, as its existing human resources manager is retiring, Fairchild said. R.I. Commerce first hired O’Neill in 2021 to help find candidates for 10 open positions, including the state housing czar and a broadband program director.
R.I. Commerce currently has 12 open positions listed on its website, consisting of a mix of existing positions that are unfilled and new posts that aim to oversee new programs and federal funding related to broadband and minority business support, among others. Fairchild said she expects additional positions will be posted soon to bring the agency up to a 70-person headcount in fiscal year 2023.
Also on Monday, the board granted a request to temporarily ease job creation requirements tied to two of its tax credit programs. The relief to the Rebuild RI and Qualified Jobs Incentive tax credit programs allows companies that were approved for tax credits based on redevelopment and/or job creation in 2021 to still receive some credits if they create 50% of the jobs they originally agreed to. (Typically, the credits, which are granted after building projects are finished or new hires are brought on, are only given if a company hires the full number of people it committed to originally.)
Jeff Miller, Commerce’s executive vice president of investments, said the temporary easing of the requirement takes into account hiring difficulties during the pandemic. The move affects about a half dozen companies – three each for the two tax credit programs – and will translate to about $500,000 in tax credits, Miller said.
Meanwhile, small businesses, hotels, tour guides, and arts and culture organizations that already received grants through the stimulus-funded RI Rebounds program might be getting a little more funding.
The authorization granted by the R.I. Commerce board Monday allows the agency to spend leftover funds in its Small Business and Hospitality, Tourism and Events Program grant programs on recipients who have already received initial funding. The extra $1.1 million in the Small Business Grant program will be given out in $800 increments to small businesses in food services, personal care services, and arts entertainment and recreation, Fairchild said. The $12.5 million program originally doled out $2,000 and $5,000 grants to hard-hit businesses across a variety of industries.
Meanwhile, an unspent $384,000 in the Hospitality, Tourism and Events Grant program will increase funding to arts and culture organizations, hotels, travel agents and tour guides, with the amount of increase determined based on individual recipients’ unmet need. The $8 million program originally gave either a $250,000 grant or an allocation determined based on unmet need to these recipients.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
Seriously?