St. Charles hires new economic development director

The economic development director for Joliet has been hired as St. Charles' new economic development director.

At Monday's St. Charles City Council meeting, aldermen unanimously approved hiring Derek Conley as the new economic development director.

He is set to start on March 7.

"We're excited to have you," said St. Charles Mayor Lora Vitek, who recommended Conley for the job.

Conley has been Joliet's economic development director since April 2018. Before that, Conley served as the economic development specialist with Invest Aurora, a public/private economic development partnership, from June 2016 to March 2018.

"Thank you for this opportunity," he said following the vote. "St. Charles is already a great community. I've been coming here for years to do dining, shopping, entertainment and recreation. Now I'm just happy to be part of that team that is going to be building and expanding it into the future."

His starting salary will be $135,000 a year. The city received 40 applications and interviewed eight candidates for the job.

Following the retirement of Community and Economic Development Director Rita Tungare last year, Tungare's position has been split into two - one for community development and the other for economic development.

In November, Russell Colby was promoted to the position of director of community development. Colby began working for the city in August 2007 as a city planner.

Colby had been serving as the city's acting director of community and economic development since August following the retirement of Tungare.