Ashley Thomas, the city’s new Main Street director, was introduced to the city council Tuesday night.
Originally from Emporia, after a professional career in Florida, City Manager Kelly Traynham said, “We are fortunate to have her back closer to her original home. She brings with her a diverse experience not only in communications and business development, but working with people and she’s not shy.”
Traynham said Thomas actually started with the city on a limited part-time basis in early May because the Main Street program is part of a national program and has had several training sessions which are offered annually. “The new director training was held in early May and Ashley was able to attend that and she’ll have more training as well.”
The city is in the process of trying to revamp the Main Street program which has been inactive for slightly over a year.
Changes will be coming, the city manager said. “In the meantime, Ashley is getting to know her way around and is learning the program. We will hear more soon. We welcome Ashley and wish her success and we’re here to support her. While she may be a one-woman department, she has a team of departments that helps to support her as well because we have to get it done together.”
Traynham said while the responsibilities are demanding and there are many expectations, “especially on our limited staff, I’m confident that Ashley has the skills and abilities to manage the Main Street program and bring a lot of interesting new developments into Main Street Roanoke Rapids.”
Thomas told the panel, “I’m so happy to be here with you all … I certainly look forward to working with you all. If you see me out in the Main Street district, whether I have a clipboard or probably an iPad and a cup of coffee, just come over and say ‘hi’ and we can talk more.”
Main Street in city manager’s report
In her report to the city council, Traynham said that on July 1 a state Main Street representative conducted a site visit on July 1. “We discussed our local program and the state representative suggested we maybe change the structure of our program temporarily.”
Currently, the city’s Main Street program is what she described as a quasi program which involves a nonprofit group. “We’re getting ready to start the process of trying to renew that nonprofit group advisory board for that.”
Temporarily, Traynham said, “It may be good for us to switch to a city-run Main Street program for reporting purposes until we can have the organization reestablished.”
She also said the North Carolina Department of Commerce through an analysis report indicates “that there’s a lot of potential in the Main Street district and just tapping in to a little bit of it could provide some fruitful opportunities for all types of business activities to draw people into our town or into the Main Street district.”
Post-meeting comments
Thomas said following the meeting, “What I would really like to see happen is the vibrancy of the Main Street area to come back. There are so many businesses that have weathered the time pre-COVID and after COVID and I’d like to see that continue.”
She said she would like to see new businesses come into the area. “One of the things that I would like to focus on would be reaching out to Generation Alpha and to Gen Z and Millenials and seeing our younger generations get interested in business.”
She said it’s also important to reach out to the Boomer generation and, “Saying, ‘Hey, there’s opportunities for everyone.’”
Thomas knows there needs to be appearance improvements in some areas of the district. “We absolutely would like to look at ways to bring in partners, businesses, and community members to revitalize some of those areas … I believe that it’s not necessarily going to be easy, but I do believe it’s doable — especially if we work together.”
