Tuesday’s Common Council meeting should have marked the start of a new era in the position of downtown developer.

Accountability, a defined job description and concrete examples of goals, gains, losses and strategies for progress would be on display, with the rhetoric backed in writing.

At least, that’s what we thought the new contract and talk of eight conditions, goals and benchmarks were going to bring.

Instead, city officials and the public heard from Jeff House a vague listing of things that are going on downtown. Even the news of several openings of various businesses, while welcome, was delivered without much insight as to the role, if any, of the downtown developer.

There was no written report or hard data to back up assertions and little evidence of aggressive marketing to counter weaknesses. A written report, we are told, will be submitted "in the reasonably near future."

The most-interesting news was mention of Resnick’s Mattress Outlet no longer being in business and how that space may be split up to accommodate smaller businesses. There’s a waiting list, House said, of people wanting to use 2,000 square feet or less, meaning the whole 7,000 square feet of Resnick’s is getting little or no demand.

Perhaps it’s more realistic to fill spaces however possible rather than leave empty large spaces. But too many questions remain for what is supposed to be a complete report.

Why is there a waiting list for smaller businesses? What ventures are on such a waiting list, and are they being told they are on such a list? If incoming potential businesses do not wish to utilize large properties, what effort is being made to reach out, to be pro-active?

As for those benchmarks, he’s already missed one. His contract dates more than four months to Feb. 1 and requires written reports every two months. If there are two such reports, the public has not been made aware of them. This may be the most-important benchmark, as it gives evidence of his fulfillment of other benchmarks, including recruitment, work with Main Street Oneonta and looking into the prospects of downtown business organizations and/or a city chamber of commerce.

Such a written report should contain not only inquiries from interested businesses, as he illustrated, albeit without details, at Tuesday’s meeting, but recruitment contacts and meetings with potential investors.

Recruiting and meetings will bring in those who don’t immediately see the potential of Oneonta. Such parties could include those with the capital, ambition and ingenuity to take advantage of larger spaces such as the former Resnick’s and a rehabilitated former Bresee’s building.

The written report, once submitted, may fulfill all these expectations, and we hope that is the case. But until then, the public is left in the cold far longer than we expected in this supposedly new era of downtown development.