Middleton committees recommend budget amendment to hire housing planner amid debate over how to spend $10.9M fund

The Middleton Community Development Authority (CDA) and Workforce Housing Committee voted to recommend a midyear budget amendment to finance and council to fund a full‑time housing planner, while members debated whether the city’s roughly $10.9 million housing fund should be spent now — including land acquisition — or held and treated more conservatively.

Hecox, the associate planner who staffs the workforce housing committee, presented the Year 1 road map and a proposed job description and timeline. “For year 1, it would be estimated at around $48,500 for the remainder of this year with a target hire date of August 15,” Hecox said, outlining minimum qualifications (master’s in city planning or related field and about one year of relevant experience) and noting the position is classified at the city’s grade‑9 level.

The recommendation was procedural: staff asked the committees to approve a budget amendment that would give staff authority to post the position and begin recruitment so the new planner could help lead subsequent RFPs, a revolving loan fund, and other action‑plan items. Staff said the posting could occur right after the amendment is approved and that hiring realistically might place a start date in mid‑August or early September because of recruiting and notice periods.

Mayor Lisa Hanyro framed a larger strategic question about how aggressively to deploy the housing fund. “Some members of council feel like this fund…should be spending only the interest that we earn on it and hold on to that money,” she said, arguing that would be “the wrong approach” and urging the city to consider land banking and front‑loading spending to seize opportunities while land is available. Hanyro asked, “How much will $1,000,000 get us in terms of land in Middleton?” and urged earlier council conversation on spending strategy.

Other committee members pushed for flexibility. Randy Bruce said the fund’s goal is to produce housing units and suggested the city could “allow developers to come forward with proposals where they could use the $1,000,000 perhaps towards their own land acquisition” to get more units per dollar. Alan noted that some strategies (land banking, revolving loan funds) can retain value for the city while producing housing and suggested flagging portions of the proposal that are expected to return funds to the program.

Staff and members discussed practical details: staff estimated the fund at about $10,900,000, cautioned that land prices vary sharply by location (examples cited in discussion included roughly $140,000 per acre in fringe farmland, a $300,000‑per‑acre estimate from a conference, and a local Parmenter corridor 2‑acre sale that sold near $4,000,000), and said unspent authority could roll forward in the fund. Committee members recommended budgeting by broad strategy buckets (land acquisition, revolving loan fund, rehabilitation, outreach) to preserve flexibility.

After discussion, the workforce housing committee moved to recommend that council approve a 2026 midyear budget amendment to fund the housing planner position (estimated $48,500 for the remainder of the year). The motion was seconded; the transcript records at least one verbal “aye” from Carrie Laurie and the committees agreed to recommend the amendment to finance and council. The transcript does not contain a complete roll‑call tally for the joint recommendation.

Committee members asked staff to craft account‑level details and confirm whether strategy‑level budgeting would be allowable in the city’s accounting setup before final council consideration. Staff said they would follow up on account codes and that the committees would convene joint meetings to review RFPs and budget recommendations as the planner is onboarded.

The committees also discussed a code and organizational transition: workforce housing would create initial outreach materials and draft RFPs, and responsibilities could be folded into a restructured CDA over a one‑year transition, with mayoral appointment and council confirmation of the body’s members. Staff reminded members there is a state statutory cap of seven CDA members.

Next steps: staff will prepare the budget amendment package for finance and council consideration, post the planner position once the amendment is approved, and return to the committees with more detailed account code guidance and draft RFP language as the planner is hired and work advances.