Norwich — The City Council will vote Tuesday to rescind authority given to the Norwich Community Development Corp. to administer a $219,569 COVID-19 business relief grant as the agency undergoes a leadership transition following the sudden death of former President Jason Vincent.

Vincent, 46, died in an apparent suicide, his vehicle found late on Dec. 30 at the center of the giant New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia and his body discovered at a dam five miles downstream Jan. 4.

City and NCDC officials cited NCDC’s shorthandedness during the transition for rescinding authority given to the city's economic development agency to oversee the grant. Mayor Peter Nystrom added that removing control of the grant from NCDC also would avoid potential conflicts of interest if businesses that lease space in NCDC's Foundry 66 shared workspace or that have other ties to NCDC wanted to apply for the grants.

Fawn Walker, a former administrator and assistant director at NCDC and recently retired manager of key commercial accounts at Norwich Public Utilities, was named as the part-time interim continuity coordinator at NCDC this week. She will serve while the six-member NCDC board search committee conducts a search for a permanent new head for the agency.

“Fawn is a good fit,” NCDC board Chairman Robert Buckley said Thursday. “She is very familiar with NCDC and is very familiar with our two funding sources and is very familiar with a lot of the government programs available to prospective developers.”

Walker, 66, had retired last summer after working 16 years at NPU, where she served as energy efficiency coordinator before becoming manager of key commercial accounts. She will work about 20 hours per week in the temporary position. She said Thursday she is not interested in the permanent NCDC president’s position.

NCDC attorney Mark Block said a written agreement and consultant pay rate with Walker have not yet been finalized.

“I’m happy to help, because I have a soft spot in my heart for Norwich,” Walker said. “What we’re doing right now is just going through the projects, prioritizing and making sure the work gets done.”

Walker said cards and flowers keep coming into the NCDC office at 66 Franklin St. in honor of Vincent.

The NCDC board last week had placed the CDBG COVID-19 relief grant program as the top priority. But city and agency officials decided instead to remove the grant entirely from the NCDC agenda. The City Council will vote at its 7:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday to rescind the Dec. 21 resolution that authorized NCDC to administer the grant.

Instead, the city’s community development office in partnership with the Southeastern Connecticut Enterprise Region will oversee distribution of the grant funds.

SeCTer Executive Director Nancy Cowser said her agency received approval from its federal funding source, the Economic Development Administration, to provide staffing support to the city and NCDC following Vincent’s death. SeCTer will assist the city community development office to receive, review and help process grant applications.

Cowser said SeCTer also has business and loan clients who might be interested in the grants, so SeCTer’s involvement will be managed carefully to allow those clients to apply. City Community Development Supervisor Kathryn Crees said Thursday her office would review all applications recommended for grants to ensure they meet federal regulations before grants are awarded.

If the council approves the resolution, advertisements for grant applications could be sent out the following week to small businesses with fewer than 100 employees in Norwich. A list of businesses is being compiled by the mayor’s office, SeCTer and the Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce for an email notification that applications are available.

Cowser said the entire region is still in shock over Vincent’s sudden death. Vincent would have been an incoming SeCTer board member, was active on chamber committees and was the lead coordinator of COVID-19 assistance to businesses in the greater Norwich area.

“It’s been a very collaborative effort,” Cowser said of the effort to assist businesses after Vincent’s death, “and we’re looking forward to doing our part, not only to help businesses recover from COVID, but from this shock.”

c.bessette@theday.com