The Rome City Commission confirmed Melissa Jones on Monday as the city’s new redevelopment director.

Jones, who will start work April 11, replaces South Rome Redevelopment Director Karen Moore, but will be an employee of the city.

“She’ll devote the next two years to the South Rome redevelopment agency and corporation,” City Manager John Bennett said. “But, after that, she’ll start looking at other areas of the city.”

Jones was picked from a pool of 50 applicants for the position left vacant when Moore retired in October 2010.

She is currently a regional planner for the Heart of Altamaha Regional Commission in middle Georgia and holds a master of public administration degree from Georgia Southern University.

“She has the credentials from an education standpoint and good work experience,” Bennett said. “And we were very impressed with her interview.”

The board also accepted a $1.8 million grant for the next phase of the city’s urban riverfront project.

Commissioner Jamie Doss said the money will pay for a riverfront plaza and boat dock at the Town Green, plus extension of the riverwalk trail under the Fifth Avenue bridge. The city has budgeted its required match of $456,350.

A request for bids could go out as early as June. Assistant City Manager Sammy Rich said the project will take an estimated 14 to 18 months, and some of the work will disrupt use of the Town Green.

“We’ll have to be strategic, how we organize construction,” he said.

Also on Monday, the board awarded Rome-based Pinson’s Inc. a $1,106,600 contract to renovate and expand the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission headquarters on Jackson Hill.

The 2009 special purpose, local option sales tax package contains $1,888,631 for the project, which includes designing the additional space.

An Alpharetta company offered to do the work for nearly $9,000 less but commissioners opted for Pinson’s based on the number of local subcontractors and suppliers the company would use.

Commissioners also approved replacement of the bent grass greens with drought-tolerant champion Bermuda at the city-owned Stonebridge Golf Club.

Bennett said the sale of timber from another site would bring $425,334 — enough to cover the $120,000 greens replacement and estimated $180,000 loss in revenue for the 10 weeks the project will take to complete.