Jill Meaux, community development planner, has been named interim director of planning and development for the city of Dunkirk pending the replacement of outgoing director Rebecca Wurster.

“I’m still in search of a new director of planning and development for the city of Dunkirk and I don’t anticipate that I can have it filled before Rebecca leaves,” Mayor Wilfred Rosas told the OBSERVER Wednesday. “Therefore I’m appointing an interim acting director for that department and we’ve chosen Jill.”

According to Rosas, the decision was based on discussion with both Meaux and Deputy Director EJ Hayes.

“EJ is working on helping out with some of the other things around the city so Jill was the person that we felt was best for the department to act as director until I find somebody,” Rosas said. “Her qualifications are very good, in fact I actually asked her if she was interested in the permanent position and she said that as of right now she is not.”

Rosas shared that the move was basically to have someone in the position to handle the day-to-day operations such as signing time cards and handling housing and zoning issues.

Wurster’s last day was Friday. She will then move on to Chautauqua County’s planning department.

At the DLDC meeting held mid December, Wurster stated that she feels that her position at Chautauqua County will just be an extension of what she can offer the city of Dunkirk.

“I think of this as a win-win,” Wurster said. “Our team will still be strong, I know that our department will continue to do great things.”