Pasco downtown leader hands in resignation on eve of Cinco de Mayo event

Jerry Martinez has submitted his resignation as director of the Downtown Pasco Development Authority after less than a year on the job.

Martinez is the latest in a string of executive directors to step down or be forced out at DPDA, which manages the Pasco Specialty Kitchen, Pasco Farmer’s Market, Cinco de Mayo Festival and the city’s Main Street economic development program.

In a brief letter of resignation, Martinez told the board he would remain on through June 1 to ease with the transition. Kylie Grimes, chair of the board, said DPDA will begin a search for a new director.

Martinez did not indicate dissatisfaction. He said he was proud of the progress the DPDA has made and feels it has taken steps forward.

“I take away valuable lessons from my time as executive director, and I remain an advocate, supporter, and believer in our downtown and in the DPDA as an organization,” he wrote.

In a follow-up message, Martinez said he is keeping his focus on Cinco de Mayo and launching the farmers market season.

“It’s been a great experience and I really do value my time here,” he told the Tri-City Herald.

Multiple directors

Still, his pending departure casts a cloud over the organization, which has lost at least four directors since 2016, when Michael Goines admitted to embezzling at least $90,000 from the organization and was sentenced for the crime.

Grimes said DPDA will continue its mission in a statement released by email.

“He is committed to seeing the organization through a transition to new leadership and the board will currently undertake the search for a new director. This transition in leadership does not deter our organization from providing the Pasco community with all the great programs we still have planned and will execute this year like the Farmers Market, Cinco de Mayo and ongoing operations with the Pasco Specialty Kitchen,” she wrote.

His decision to leave could affect the DPDA’s annual budget of about $500,000.

In December, the Pasco City Council voted 5-2 to increase its financial support of the group to $240,000, more than double the $100,000 it previously received.

The council agreed to provide $120,000 initially, with the opportunity to secure $60,000 more at the start of both the third and fourth quarters.

The move was viewed as a vote of confidence in Martinez’s leadership.

‘Very unfortunate’

City Councilman Pete Serrano, who voted against funding DPDA, told the Herald on Tuesday he hadn’t seen Martinez’s resignation letter, but that it was “very unfortunate” that someone with so much enthusiasm was leaving.

“That’s a tremendous hit for that organization,” Serrano said. “What I wanted was someone like Jerry to prove it could be a viable organization.”

Serrano has been one of the organization’s toughest critics on the council.

Late last year, as the city council was discussing 2023 funding for the DPDA, Serrano said he was in favor of defunding the program altogether.

DPDA’s most recent troubles came to a head in 2022, shortly before Martinez was hired.

The 2022 Cinco de Mayo Festival was a hit with participants, but word emerged that behind the scenes, spending had ballooned because of mismanagement. Among the expenses: DPDA paid more than $42,000 to rebook bands that had been erroneously canceled.

The event lost money and left the nonprofit with a negative bank balance.

The 2023 Cinco de Mayo event will feature Noche Cultural on Friday, May 5, followed by a Saturday lineup that includes a parade and daylong festival downtown.

Scathing report

The authority came under fire again when the board released a scathing assessment of the Pasco Specialty Kitchen, the business incubator that provides commercial kitchen space to up-and-coming restaurants and food makers.

The kitchen has lost money every year since 2019, including $70,000 in 2022, according to the report by former manager Damien Davis.

Davis described the kitchen as “rudderless,” going on to call it understaffed, undertrained and underfunded.

Davis recommended the DPDA reinvest in the kitchen and restore standard business procedures to track expenses, bill clients and qualify for the grants that support its budget.

At the time the report was publicly released, Martinez said DPDA had been working to address the issues and he believed the kitchen had turned a corner.

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