READING., Pa. \u2013 Reading City Council voted unanimously in a special meeting Friday afternoon to approve David Barr as the city\u2019s new community development director.<\/p>\n
Barr is a native of Reading but spent the majority of his career serving in key roles in managing construction, energy, and facility planning with the U.S. Department of State.<\/p>\n
He received a Presidential award for his work in energy conservation and led complex renovation and security projects across the globe, including in Iraq and Pakistan.<\/p>\n
He retired from the Foreign Service in 2022 and has since continued supporting diplomatic housing and construction projects.<\/p>\n
Mayor Eddie Moran held a brief news conference after the council meeting where he said this is a very exciting time for the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cReal progress is happening all across the city,\u201d Moran said. \u201cWe need strong leadership to keep the momentum going, and David brings a wealth of experience and a steady hand to guide this work. We once again now have a complete cabinet of leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barr said he has seen many attempts to revitalize the city in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don’t think I’ve seen a more favorable set of circumstances than we have now,\u201d Barr said. \u201cWe have a much-improved financial condition, the promise of passenger rail, the new City Revitalization and Improvement Zone (CRIZ) authority, and crime rates are dropping. We have a strong management team with a united goal. Of course, there’s still challenges, but I want to be part of what’s ahead for this city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barr added that he looks forward to working with the citizens of Reading as well as the county, state and federal partners to make the city better.<\/p>\n
Before voting on the appointment, Council President Donna Reed said it was a real joy for her to vote on the resolution.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s so great to have someone from Reading who’s achieved what you’ve achieved on the international stage, and then you’re willing to come back here and help your native city,\u201d Reed said. \u201cAnd I think there’s great things that can be done and great things that are going to happen. I can’t say enough of how I am looking forward to working with you. Thank you for thinking of us and answering the call to public service yet again on a different level.”<\/p>\n
During the press conference, Moran also announced the appointment of Patricia Vasquez to the position of deputy community development director.<\/p>\n
Vasquez served the city in key roles with the department over the last ten years.<\/p>\n
Barr\u2019s official start date is July 1.<\/p>\n
Last Monday, council had approved an annual salary for the community development director of $126,170.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"READING., Pa. \u2013 Reading City Council voted unanimously in a special meeting Friday afternoon to approve David Barr…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2004,2001,2716,737,5208,128,1095,130,129,5207],"class_list":["post-5736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-community-development-director","tag-david-barr","tag-donna-reed","tag-mayor-eddie-moran","tag-patricia-vasquez","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-council","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-u-s-department-of-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}