McLean says she’ll appoint herself to urban renewal board if Bieter doesn’t step down
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean says she would appoint herself to the board of the Capital City Development Corp., Boise’s urban renewal agency, if former Mayor David Bieter doesn’t step down from it.
The comments, made in press conference Wednesday and first reported by Boise Dev, contrast with McLean’s statements during the campaign that she would not join CCDC’s board, maintaining a firm line between the city and the agency. Urban renewal agencies in Idaho cities are created by city councils and led by board members appointed by mayors, but they operate independently.
That promise stemmed from voters’ concerns that CCDC was shifting money away from city coffers and that it would subsidize a proposed stadium.
“It’s true that I hadn’t planned on appointing myself to CCDC,” McLean wrote in a statement. “Many commission boards operate just fine without a mayor, and I’m certainly able to empower commissioners to enact a new vision for our community. But, as I said on Wednesday, if a Boise mayor is sitting on CCDC it should be Boise’s current mayor.”
Bieter, whose term on CCDC goes through 2022, appointed himself to the board as mayor. But since he lost the November election and a December runoff to McLean, he has not stepped down.
In a voice message, Bieter said that McLean hadn’t asked him to.
“If Lauren McLean would like me to step off CCDC, she can give me a call and tell me why she’d like me to do that,” he said.
Bieter said his decision about the board will depend “in part on what I’m going to do in the future, and ... if she appoints herself, what she and other members want to do going forward.” He said he was particularly interested in the future of the two new urban renewal districts: the Shoreline District in downtown Boise and the Gateway East District, in southeast Boise.
“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do longer term,” Bieter added. “It’s only been six weeks since I’ve been out of office.”
Urban renewal districts are powerful tools that cities use to invest in economic development projects. In Boise, CCDC has funded street and sidewalk improvements and bike lanes downtown, in addition to subsidizing apartment buildings.
Over the course of an urban renewal district’s life, taxing entities, such as cities, schools and the highway district, continue to collect the taxes they collected within the district’s territory at the time the district was formed — but no more. Any new property tax revenue created by new development or rising property values goes to the district.
Boise has five such districts. Its first urban renewal area, which included central downtown, expired in 2018. CCDC has also been considering creating a new district on the Central Bench and along State Street.
Because of urban renewal agencies’ power, many mayors around the Treasure Valley choose to appoint themselves to the agencies’ boards. In Meridian, former Mayor Tammy de Weerd sat on the board of the Meridian Development Corp. In Eagle, Mayor Jason Pierce recently appointed himself to the board of the Eagle Urban Renewal Agency.
In January, the CCDC board decided to defer the elections it typically holds at the beginning of each year. CCDC canceled its February meeting.
Former City Councilman Scott Ludwig, whose term was set to expire in April 2021, voluntarily gave up his seat on the commission. The remaining six members were all appointed by Bieter during his time as mayor.
- Ben Quintana, May 2020
- Maryanne Jordan, May 2021
- Ryan Woodings, January 2022
- Gordon Jones, March 2022
- Dana Zuckerman, September 2022
- David Bieter, October 2022
McLean has said she would consider expanding that seven-person board to a nine-person board. The city has opened applications for those interested in joining the board.
In a statement provided to the Statesman, CCDC spokeswoman Jordyn Neerdaels wrote, “Our current agency employees have been highly effective in pursuing the CCDC mission while working with various blends of appointed board members in the past eight years.”
McLean’s statement comes just days after a bill was proposed in the Idaho Legislature that would force elected officials appointed to urban renewal boards to leave them upon vacating office.
“If she’d like to appoint herself — of course — no problem with me,” Bieter said.
This story was updated at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 16, to include comment from former Mayor David Bieter.
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 7:30 PM.
