BOMA, one of the key groups working for the betterment of downtown St. Paul, is again looking for a new president.

Curt Milburn left this winter, after a year on the job as head of the Business Owners and Managers Association. He took the post after the completion of the very successful Phalen Boulevard project, which involved building a new road through an industrial area and lining it with new businesses on the city's East Side.

But unlike Phalen — where everyone pulled together on the project — BOMA is a more political animal, with lots of stressful competing interests. Milburn says simply: "It wasn't a good fit."

He's looking for a new job, writing a novel and contemplating a move to Germany, where his wife was born and raised.

In the meantime, Bill Buth is back in action. He retired in 2006, after 32 years as BOMA president, but is helping the organization prepare for the City Council's skyway hours debate this week.  A search is on for a new permanent leader.