City ends DiMuccio's services

New Castle City Council ended the services of John DiMuccio as its downtown coordinator Thursday night. The termination, effective Saturday, was approved by a 3-2 vote. Rob Ratkovich, Christine Sands and Karen DeCarlo voted in favor and Will Quimby and Chet Orelli Jr. were opposed. An effort to table the motion failed, also by the same vote. At Tuesday's work session, Ratkovich proposed that DiMuccio's services be terminated, saying he doesn't believe the city should be paying $2,000 a month. All projects are finished in the downtown with the exception of improvements to the East Washington Street bridge by the former Troutman's store, he said. Thursday night, noting the city's financial problems, Ratkovich said, "It's time to start cutting back." He said business administrator Tammi Gibson "is more than capable" of doing the job, which involves preparing applications for state grants. "It was fun. I enjoyed it," DiMuccio said Thursday night. He said he enjoyed working on projects and wanted to continue working on the downtown. He said when he was hired he had wanted it to be month-to-month. "I've been around long enough," the former business administrator said, "to know that the elected officials are in those positions to make those decisions." DiMuccio has been paid with grant funds.