NorthIowaToday.com

Founded in 2010

News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region

Whispers of nepotism shroud hiring of Jay Urdahl’s wife at NIACOG

NIACOG offices in Mason City
NIACOG offices in Mason City

MASON CITY – The wife of Cerro Gordo County Supervisor Jay Urdahl has been hired at the North Iowa Area Council of Governments (NIACOG) – where Urdahl is a board member – and some say that his board status and position of power paved the way to her hiring.

NIACOG – an agency that facilitates sharing between governmental units  – receives the financial support that keeps it afloat from the federal, state and local levels (last week, Senator Tom Harkin announced $61,000 in new funding for the organization).  Supervisor Jay Urdahl has represented Cerro Gordo county on the NIACOG Board for a number of years, with his last appointment to the board coming in January of 2013.  According to the county’s website, County Supervisor Jay Urdahl remains on the board to this day, and there has been no public notice that he ever resigned or was replaced.  He is listed as a board member at least twice on the Cerro Gordo county website. (See screenshots, below).

Jay Urdal
Jay Urdahl

The fiscal officer position became open at NIACOG on July 25, 2013, with the resignation of Bonnie Lettow, NIACOG Director Joe Myhre told NIT last week.  Mr. Myhre said that he extended an offer of employment to Kristine Urdahl – Jay Urdahl’s wife – on August 12, 2013, following the advertising of the position in the Globe-Gazette for an unspecified amount of time.  He said that four candidates were interviewed for the position.

“Myself, our administrative assistant and transit administrator interviewed 4 candidates and Kristine [Urdahl] was agreed upon as the best candidate for the position,” Mr. Myhre told NIT.

It was brought to the attention of NIT that the hiring of a person with a family member on the NIACOG board could bring the appearance of nepotism (the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs) into the discussion.  This prompted NIT to ask NIACOG (and others) for information related to the hiring of Kristine Urdahl at NIACOG.

NIT did not ask Mr. Myhre about any nepotism, but he offered an explanation anyway.

“I can tell you that there was absolutely no influence from any board member in the hiring process,” Mr. Myhre told NIT. “I will also tell you that I did a complete and very thorough reference check before extending an offer to make sure that Jay’s influence as a county supervisor was not part of any workplace disruptions or distractions with his wife’s employment.”

Kristine Urdahl is paid a salary of $43,000 per year, which, according to knowledgeable sources, was an increase over her previous job at Habitat for Humanity.

Again, the county website lists Jay Urdahl as the NIACOG board representative from Cerro Gordo county, and was in that capacity when his wife was hired in 2013.

However, Mr. Myhre claims that Jay Urdahl resigned from the board at an undisclosed date.  He also says he is pleased with Kristine Urdahl’s job performance.

“I am extremely pleased with Kristine’s work and am confident that we made the right choice,” Mr. Myhre said last week.  “I can honestly say there have been no distractions by anyone including my board members. The only interruption, if you want to call it that, was after I checked with my auditor about the potential conflict of interest with Jay on the NIACOG board, my auditor advised me that he felt it was a conflict of interest or at least would give the appearance of a conflict of interest. As such, my offer of employment to Kristine was contingent upon Jay resigning from all boards and commissions of NIACOG which he promptly did.”

NIT could ascertain no definite proof that Jay Urdahl ever resigned from the NIACOG Board.  In fact, in a conversation today, NIT was told by a source extremely close to the NIACOG Board that Jay Urdahl has attended NIACOG board meetings this year.  No media ever reported that Jay Urdahl resigned from the NIACOG board (or was replaced on the board), but there were reports in January of 2013 from local media when he was re-appointed.

Hard-working supervisor Jay Urdahl
Hard-working supervisor Jay Urdahl

Even if Jay Urdahl did resign from the NIACOG board – behind the scenes – the fact that he has continued to attend board meetings before, during and after Kristine Urdahl was hired at that agency may lend credence to whispers in the community of nepotism.

This is not the first time that Jay Urdahl has been confronted with the prospect of nepotism in county job openings and subsequent hirings.

As narrated to NIT, a source told of a former Cerro Gordo supervisor, Bob Ermer, whose close relative sought a job on a county road crew. As the story goes, Urdahl – who was also a supervisor – sharply admonished Ermer for allegedly using his influence to help his relative get hired by the county. The source indicated that at least partly due to that episode, Ermer announced he would not seek re-election to the board of supervisors.

niacog board screenshot from cg county website may 2014
Screenshot #1 from Cerro Gordo County website, showing Jay Urdahl as NIACOG Board member (CLICK TO VIEW LARGER)
Screenshot #2 from Cerro Gordo County website, showing Jay Urdahl as NIACOG Board member (CLICK TO VIEW LARGER)
Screenshot #2 from Cerro Gordo County website, showing Jay Urdahl as NIACOG Board member (CLICK TO VIEW LARGER)
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

49 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Even more news:

Watercooler
Copyright 2024 – Internet Marketing Pros. of Iowa, Inc.
49
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x