LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The West End Opportunity Partnership is aiming to have its board in place by late February after selecting nine neighborhood representatives. That’s a slight delay to a timeline set last fall.
The newly formed public agency, which would oversee a tax increment financing district proposed for western Louisville and guide investment there, has yet to take a key step: Establish committees that will evaluate candidates from the neighborhoods and recommend finalists for each seat.
The partnership, established by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2021, will have 21 board members representing institutions and government, along with residents who live in Parkland, Shawnee, Park Duvalle, Russell, Portland, California, Chickasaw, Park Hill and Algonquin.
State legislators gave nine appointments to institutions and one each to Kentucky’s governor, Louisville’s mayor and the Metro Council. Lawmakers let those board appointees pick who will represent the neighborhoods.
The existing partnership board decided in November that it would create a group of three “nominators” from each neighborhood to vet applicants for the board seats. Those committees would then narrow down the pool of applicants for each neighborhood to three people and send those finalists to the partnership board, which would make the final selection.
The partnership had hoped to have those 27 nominators in place before Christmas. Instead, it has identified 14 people.
The delay is a result of the increasing impact of COVID-19 and recent weather disasters that have affected the full-time jobs of the partnership members in charge of the work, said board member Jennifer Hancock.
“We suspect these same issues have also impacted the community’s ability to respond to this opportunity,” she said in a statement to WDRB News. “We are continuing to encourage neighborhood participation and will closely assess whether it makes sense to extend the deadlines to further encourage participation for those who needed additional time.”
Besides applicants for the board seats, the partnership also is looking for people to serve on each neighborhood’s nominating committee. It needs nominators for all neighborhoods except Chickasaw and Russell.
For now, people interested in serving as neighborhood representatives on the board must apply by Friday. Online applications are at westendpartners.org.
Hancock said anyone interested in serving on the nominating committees also must contact the partnership by Friday.
The board had hoped to select the neighborhood representatives at a Feb. 12 meeting, but Hancock said the goal is now to do so on Feb. 26.
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