Monrovia : Manager Plan Rejected

Downtown merchants voted 55 to 33 against a plan to hire a professional manager to promote downtown businesses, even though city officials had offered to pay part of the manager’s salary.

The vote, announced Friday, came as a disappointment to board members of the Monrovia Downtown Merchants Assn., who were promoting the plan. Russ Stewart, president of the association, said the board has tabled the proposal indefinitely because so many members voted against it.

“When they see it’s going to cost them money, that’s the only thing they think about,” said board member Detro Sells. “The board is quite concerned about not having time to do the things a downtown manager would be able to do for us.”

Thirty-seven business owners quit the 197-member city-financed association earlier this month in protest of proposed assessment increases to pay for a manager.

Salary and overhead for a downtown manager would have cost up to $50,000 annually. The Monrovia Redevelopment Agency had offered to partially subsidize the expense for the first five years. After that, merchants would have been charged an additional $300 annually.