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Hayden Urban Renewal commissioner voices ethics and qualification concerns over new HERA executive director
Summary
A longtime Hayden Urban Renewal Agency commissioner publicly explained his 'no' vote on the agency's appointment of a new executive director, citing a chair's recusal for a personal relationship, a perceived lack of land-use or engineering qualifications in the hire, and concerns about the appearance of paying a single person for bookkeeping and executive-director responsibilities.
During the council meeting’s commission reports, a member of the Hayden Urban Renewal Agency who identified himself as a long-serving commissioner explained his reasons for voting "no" on the board’s appointment of a new executive director.
The commissioner said the board chairman recused herself because the new executive-director appointee was a friend, and that this conflict had not been disclosed earlier. He said the appointee’s résumé showed experience in accounting and finance, not in urban planning or engineering — fields that previous executive directors had held — and said that the appointee would retain bookkeeping duties while also serving as executive director, which he said created an appearance problem and raised governance concerns.
Mayor and other council members acknowledged the HERA board’s authority to make appointments but received the commissioner’s public statement as a request to ensure transparency and to consider whether the council (as an elected body) should take further interest in how the agency uses tax increment funds.
The council did not take formal action on the matter at the meeting; the commissioner said he intended the public statement to inform residents and council about his concerns.
