New Elgin development director an 'adaptable leader'

Elgin's new community development director doesn't have a handle on the biggest challenges facing the city yet.

For the past few weeks, Marc Mylott has been acting like a sponge, soaking up valuable information from people in and out of city hall.

"One of my greatest strengths is my ability to listen, to understand what the issues are and think creatively in developing solutions," he said. "I'm not afraid to really dig down deep."

Elgin City Manager Sean Stegall said more than 75 people applied for the $130,000-a-year position, which opened after Jerry Deering retired from the city earlier this year.

Stegall said Mylott's background of a combination of planning and code enforcement in Columbia, S.C., helped separate him from other applicants.

"The community he came from had very similar socioeconomic and demographic profiles as Elgin. It's diverse. The housing stock is very similar," Stegall said. "He in every way demonstrates the type of adaptable leader we're looking for."

Mylott, 39, grew up in downstate Chillicothe, which was one of the reasons he returned to the Midwest.

While in Columbia as the director of planning and development services and zoning administrator, he overhauled the city's code enforcement program of more than 29,000 houses and duplexes. He also worked to publish neighborhood enforcement efforts on the Internet.

Before serving out east, Mylott worked as a planner for Evanston and in the private sector in the northern suburbs.

In Elgin, Mylott will be in charge of administering the city's yearly participation in the federal Community Development Block Grant program, along with health and building inspections, code enforcement and the city's new foreclosure inspection program.

The new foreclosure inspection program is expected to be approved by city council members in October or November.