New Port Richey's Main Street program hasn’t had a full-time director since 2010. And with the hiring of executive director Beth Fregger still, technically, it doesn’t.

But for the first time in 18 months, Greater New Port Richey Main Street has an executive director and someone who can devote as much time as the job requires.

“There’s so much work to do and so much that needs to be done,” she said. “I will dedicate myself to whatever it takes,” she said. “I’m very excited.

Fregger was hired to be executive director of the group in January.

Fregger brings three decades of advertising experience to the position, which is part-time. Fregger's past jobs have included doing work for the Florida Aquarium and the Tampa Bay Mutiny soccer team.

Along with that work comes extensive experience organizing and promoting events.

For years, festivals and specal events have been the fundraising cornerstone for Main Street, Fregger said. And events will continue to be part of the organization’s efforts.

“My goal is to continue those events and make them more profitable and take them to the next level,” she said.

But the stable of events won’t be her only focus. The downtown needs more businesses and more people on the streets. Getting businesses into the downtown and attracting customers is a major goal.

“We have empty storefronts downtown. We need retail,” she said.

The downtown needs to fill those empty spaces and spruce up some of the buildings to take advantage of its positive points such as the riverfront, theater, recreation center and art gallery.

Fregger said she plans to work with landlords to help lure businesses to the downtown and give people from the region a reason to drive to Main Street.

She and her husband are among the downtown landlords after buying the Chasco Inn on Main Street in 2004.

She pointed to Dunedin and Melbourne as cities that transformed their downtowns into hubs of tourism and commerce.

“I want downtown to become a destination,” she said.

She hopes to work more closely with public and private organizations to promote businesses in the downtown. Grants are also out there to pursue.

The organization will need the grants in the face of shrinking help from the city of New Port Richey, which plans to cut its contributions to the Main Street program by $5,000 a year.

It’s possible the group may get no money as the City Council gets into its budgeting work, said Deputy Mayor Rob Marlowe. The group may see its payment drop to nothing.

“It will be a tight year, and we may not have the money,” he said.

If that happens, Main Street will have to adjust, Fregger said.

“I believe when one tree falls, another sprouts,” she said.

Plans to lure more businesses to the downtown fit a major need for the organization, Marlowe said. “We need to get storefronts filled.”

Success at that task may make the council more receptive to keeping some money flowing to the organization, he said.

The group needs to get more effort into diversified fundraising efforts and also work for historic preservation of downtown, said Marlowe, who volunteered to revamp the organization’s website.

“Main Street has an opportunity to step in and do some of this stuff,” he said.

The organization suffered since 2010 when City Council member Judy DeBella Thomas resigned from her job as Main Street’s executive director to cast the deciding vote that saved the city’s contribution to Main Street when the council considered severing it.

The person who took over as interim administrator did what was possible but there wasn’t enough time in 20 hours a week, Marlowe said.

“It went from about three full-time positions to a person working 20 hours a week,” he said.

For Fregger, the job came as she was looking for a change. She has been active in the community for 20 years, she said, including volunteer work for Main Street and other organizations in the county and owning an advertising consulting business.

“I was looking for a change,” she said. “The stars aligned.”