Kingston Director of Grants Management Kristen Wilson, who for five years led City Hall’s efforts to aggressively pursue outside funding for municipal projects, is stepping down.

Mayor Steve Noble announced Tuesday that Wilson will leave next month to start a new job as assistant vice president of community development at local housing nonprofit RUPCO. She will be succeeded in her post by city Grants Manager Ruth Ann Devitt-Frank.

Wilson was instrumental in implementing Noble’s plan to transform the city’s grant-writing operations from a largely ad hoc effort into a full-fledged department. Since taking office in 2016, the city has obtained some $44 million in state, federal and private grants. Projects funded or completed on Wilson’s watch include the Kingston Point Rail Trail and the Building a Better Broadway project.

In addition to seeking out new grants, Wilson’s Office of Grants Management is charged with administering dozens of existing grants to ensure compliance with complex rules and reporting requirements. Earlier this year, Wilson told city lawmakers that the office was becoming overwhelmed by the sheer volume of grants and projects to be administered by her office. Wilson asked the Common Council to hire a new project manager to assist in the effort. The request was denied and, instead, lawmakers opted to increase the department’s overtime budget to increase capacity.

Some city lawmakers also expressed frustration with cost estimates from the grants office that at times failed to anticipate additional costs that would need to be borne by city taxpayers. In late 2020, the Common Council was asked to allocate $2.8 million to pay for the emergency replacement of a sewer line on a section of Broadway slated for reconstruction as part of the streetscape project. Some lawmakers questioned why the replacement was not included in earlier cost estimates based on warnings by public works officials that the decaying sewer would need to be replaced before the street could be repaved over it.

In a statement released Tuesday, Noble praised Wilson for her role in bringing transformative projects to the city and especially to Midtown. Noble credited Wilson with modernizing Kingston’s grant management process, allowing the city to pursue more and more complex funding opportunities. Noble added that Wilson had led the way in “breaking down bureaucratic silos” to ensure coordination and focus between city departments and state agencies which oversee grant funded initiatives.

Noble also praised Wilson’s commitment to making the city more accessible to the disabled, fostering more modern transportation infrastructure and commitment to equity in development. “On behalf of the 24,000 residents of Kingston, I thank Kristen for her dedication to making Kingston a better community for its residents,” said Noble in the statement. “We will continue to thoughtfully build off of the foundation she has set.”