Jonesboro City Planning Director Otis Spriggs announced Monday he will be resigning from his office. According to a press release from the city, Spriggs has accepted an offer to become a development director in the greater Houston area.
The Baton Rouge native served as city planning director for 10 years. Spriggs helped the city create a Development Review Guide for developers working in Jonesboro and digitizing the department’s paperwork.
Mayor Harold Perrin said finding a replacement for Spriggs will be difficult, but a priority.
Here's the official press release from the city:
Otis Spriggs, who has served as the City of Jonesboro’s Planning Director since 2006, announced his impending resignation Monday to accept a development director position in the greater Houston area.
Spriggs, a Baton Rouge, La., native, said the move is a good career opportunity that also will put him closer to family.
“Working with the City of Jonesboro has been a wonderful experience for me,” Spriggs said. “It has afforded me many opportunities to learn and grow during this important stage of my career. I am very grateful to have been a part of this administration.”
Spriggs has played a key role in Jonesboro’s growth the past decade, and he led the development of the city’s Development Review Guide, a ground-to-completion reference tool for developers working in Jonesboro.
“Otis was very active in Vision 2030, which is a big deal in Jonesboro, and he worked hard on our master land-use plan,” Mayor Harold Perrin said. “He has worked extremely well with builders and is very good in customer service.”
Spriggs took over the planning department at a time when most city planning and engineering documents were on paper. He helped lead a digital transition that was nothing short of monumental. The department now has fully digitized records, including annexation and property histories.
“We’ve also done a lot of long-range planning – keeping our land-use planning current,” Spriggs said.
Spriggs said he made it a personal goal to always treat people with respect and kindness. “I’ll miss the business relationships; they have been a pleasure,” he said. “You can’t please everyone, but there’s been more good than bad. And we always look for a way to serve people.”
Perrin said replacing Spriggs will be difficult, but it will be a priority.
“Good certified planners are hard to come by,” Perrin said. “We can’t replace Otis; we’ll just find the best candidate we can get to fill his position.”
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