Didier to take Milwaukee County development job

Wauwatosa Mayor Jill Didier will be leaving her city job Dec. 15 to take the economic development coordinator position in Milwaukee County’s new economic development division.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele included creation of a development division in the 2012 budget, opening up a position that the county has been publicly advertising to applicants. Didier was among 32 applicants for the job, which will have her working with county economic development director Brian Taffora. Taffora said Didier’s job is to help coordinate development efforts between the 19 municipalities in the county and other organizations such as Milwaukee 7.

A recent Public Policy Forum study called for better coordination between the region’s development organizations, and Milwaukee County and Didier can help facilitate that, Taffora said.

“We want to be that network,” he said. “We want to be that go-to person for the municipalities.”

Didier said she enjoys politics, and the prospect of fostering intergovernmental cooperation to promote development attracted her to the county job. Under her term as Wauwatosa mayor, the city created two new economic development positions and united the redevelopment and housing authorities into a new community development authority.

“We took a lot of different elements of economic development and brought them into one room,” she said.