When Director Jeff Raykes resigned in November to focus on his private planning firm, it left a void in Greensburg’s planning and development department, Alec Italiano said.
Greensburg council hired Italiano last week to fill the gap as the city’s new planning and development director, with a starting salary of $65,000.
The 33-year-old Greensburg resident has served as executive director of the city’s Community Development Corp. since July. The nonprofit, founded in 1975, assists Greensburg government, businesses and organizations in revitalizing the city.
“It’s been like the development arm — trying to work with businesses, business development, get people investing in Greensburg,” Italiano said.
But Italiano will not have to venture far from the nonprofit. He will still have a seat on its 25-person board and plans to help interim Executive Director Elsie Lampl in the transition.
Italiano’s experience working with local businesses, organizing development conferences in the city and assisting residents equip him well for the position, Councilperson Gregory Mertz said.
“That was something we really wanted to see in the candidate for development director — somebody who can go above and beyond for our residents, because government work is for the people,” Mertz said.
Transitioning into the online OpenGov portal, started by Raykes to smoothly connect users with city building permits and other planning-related documents, will be a top priority of the director job, Italiano said.
“It’s good,” Italiano said. “It’s just you’re going to have to work with the software and make it so it makes sense (to staff and residents).”
He will also assist with Greensburg’s active transportation plan, supported by a $20,000 grant from the state program WalkWorks. The city is expected to hire a consultant by the end of the year to develop the plan, which will focus on helping people get around town on foot, on bicycles and in wheelchairs.
“It’s a great opportunity to make Greensburg more mobility-friendly,” Italiano said.
Italiano is a Hempfield Area High School graduate and earned a business marketing degree from Penn State’s Behrend campus.
Italiano has worked at the Westmoreland Industrial Development Corp. and served in an economic development role for Westmoreland Community Action. He also gained experience with workforce development at CareerLink’s Westmoreland-Fayette office.
Italiano looks forward to positioning the city for “new and better development.”
“Me and my family live in Greensburg,” he said. “I’m just really excited about living in the community and also having this job at the same time to help make our community a better place.”
