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Cloverdale council outlines downtown parcel purchase; members and public press for broker policy after perceived conflict concerns
Summary
The council described an expedited purchase of two downtown parcels to enable a plaza expansion and said staff used broker Mr. Terrari because of urgency. Several council members and multiple public speakers raised concerns about a perceived conflict of interest and asked staff and the city attorney to return with a procurement policy or approval requirement for future broker use.
Cloverdale city staff reported May 27 that the city pursued an out-of-cycle opportunity to buy 110 North Cloverdale Boulevard and 124 East First Street to expand the downtown plaza. The city manager said multiple prospective buyers were evaluating the properties and staff acted quickly, engaging broker Mr. Terrari to help complete the transaction.
City Manager Kevin Gustoff told the council the purchase move was driven by urgency: "The main thing I want to convey ... is the sense of urgency. We were working with Mr. Terrari with a different purchaser who approached us ... and we didn't want it to go to somebody else." He said that brokers were engaged because the city does not frequently buy private property and that the broker had relationships that helped close the deal.
That explanation did not satisfy several council members and numerous public commenters. Dana Star, who said she has worked as a commercial real-estate controller, pointed to multiple red flags in the sequence of events, including that buyer and seller representation came from the same brokerage and that the city had an initial appraisal that was not disclosed. "When I learned further down the staging of dates that the seller's agent was from the same company, I went, well, conflict of interest," she said.
Other speakers asked for transparency: calls included creating an approved local-realtor list, publishing broker commission terms in advance, and adopting a written policy so future quick-turn purchases proceed with clearer public oversight. Council members asked the city attorney and manager to return with options — including a process that would require council approval before hiring a broker on urgent purchases or an approved-list approach — while also cautioning that overly prescriptive rules could hamper rapid action on rare opportunities.
Why it matters: the parcels are adjacent to the public plaza and were described in staff materials as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape downtown. Public commenters and some council members said the transaction's speed and the involvement of a single brokerage created a perception of partiality that the city should address through policy.
Next steps: staff and the city attorney will research options and return with a recommended policy to increase transparency for broker use and emergency/expedited real-estate purchases.
