Milton CRA staff proposes splitting city ranger salary with CRA to increase downtown presence

City of Milton staff proposed that the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) pay half of the salary for a newly created city/park ranger position to guarantee a regular, visible presence in the city's CRA districts.

Mr. Prestesater, introduced by the mayor as the staff presenter, said the city has seen recent increases in downtown vandalism, vagrancy and litter and described the ranger role as a proactive outreach and enforcement position that would work alongside existing code enforcement. "The city of Milton is blessed to have 2 code enforcement officers," he said, framing the ranger as an outreach complement to those officers.

The proposal asked the CRA to consider dedicating 50% of the new ranger’s salary to ensure roughly 20 hours per week would be focused in CRA areas during peak times and events. Mick Rizzoli, who introduced himself as the ranger, described his background and said he would log interactions so staff could apportion time geographically across the three CRAs.

Council members raised logistical and fiscal questions about hours, on-call coverage, overtime for special events and how the CRA contribution would be tracked and divided among CRA 1, CRA 2 and CRA 3. One council member pressed for a clearer cost breakdown and schedule. "I'm not comfortable making a decision on this tonight until there's more information regarding the position," a council member said.

Staff said they are pursuing county funds to offset the CRA contribution so the net impact on CRA reserves could be neutral if those outside funds materialize. Council did not take an immediate vote and asked staff to return with additional details on salary scope, schedule, on-call coverage, overtime treatment and how time will be logged and charged to each CRA.

The council’s request for more information leaves the proposal open; no formal funding action was taken at this meeting.