COEUR d'ALENE — Tony Berns doesn’t think about his personal legacy.

Instead, the executive director of Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency, ignite cda, said he thinks about the legacy that will be left by the agency itself.

“I hope that people will remember the old Lake City Development Corp./ignite cda and what we’ve done. I hope they appreciate the work that went into the creation of great things for the community,” Berns said in an interview Thursday. “I hope they remember that stuff like that just doesn’t happen on its own.”

This month, ignite cda’s nine-member, volunteer board of directors will conclude its evaluation of Berns’ job performance and publicly vote on any proposed increases to his compensation — an annual practice since Berns was hired as executive director in 2001. The board will also begin discussion on the renewal of Berns’ unique five-year contract, which concludes in October 2017.

Both of the discussions come in the wake of the agency de-annexing 62 pieces of property in the Lake and River districts, a move that returned an estimated $1.3 million to area taxing districts. It also coincides with the agency beginning to complete its work in the Lake District, which is set to expire in 2021.

When evaluating Berns’ contract and compensation, Board Chair Denny Davis said the board commonly compares it to department heads working for the city of Coeur d’Alene. Both Berns and city department heads have severance clauses should they be terminated.

Under Berns’ contract, he would receive full compensation and benefits for six months if he was let go. Department heads, under the city’s personnel policy, receive compensation and benefits for four.

Berns receives the same paid holidays (11) as city department heads, and receives a comparable amount of vacation time.

However, the fact the contract spans multiple years makes it unique. The city has not offered such contracts in at least a decade; instead, all of its employees fall under personnel policies that explicitly state they are at-will employees.

“Since the urban renewal agency is a quasi-city organization, I would assume when his contract ends that the executive director would fall under the same employment rules as a city department head,” said Mayor Steve Widmyer, who also serves as a member of ignite’s board.

According to personnel policy information provided by City Human Resources Director Melissa Tosi, department heads have “no right to continued employment or employment benefits.” The at-will clause of the policy adds that it is not a contract and was not written with any intention of specifying the duration of employment or limiting the reasons for termination.

Davis said he could not think of any historical context that would have led to the board opting for a multi-year contract. The Press also contacted former Mayor Sandi Bloem, and asked her if she could recall any circumstances in the city at the time that would have led to, or influenced, the decision to protect Berns with a five-year employment guarantee.

“I don’t have a memory of that, to tell you the truth,” Bloem said, adding the contract was handled by the agency, not city officials.

Although Davis said he doesn’t think the board will offer Berns another multi-year contract, it is his belief the agency has benefited from offering the executive director such contracts throughout his 15-year tenure.

“The board has always viewed it as a value to be able to maintain consistency within our agency,” Davis said. “We’ve run pretty lean, administratively, as an agency — Tony is the only employee and has been for all these years.”

In addition to maintaining consistency in the position, Davis said the board has determined it would have to hire multiple people to replace Berns. Other urban renewal agencies in the state with comparable size and revenue, he added, have several people on staff.

“Tony brings a unique skill set to us,” Davis said. “We’ve always felt that he had expertise in not only management, administration of contracts, and property management, but he also has a very strong financial background as well.”

For the 2013 fiscal year, Berns was paid $128,200 as the agency’s only employee. He earned raises the following two fiscal years, making $131,404 and $135,346, respectively.

Although Berns is a public employee, the executive director is not entitled to benefits through the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho (PERSI) — a system governed by the state Legislature that provides retirement, disability, survivor and other benefits to more than 135,000 public employees. Berns does, however, have a 401(k) plan ignite cda matches contributions toward up to a maximum amount established by the board during Berns' annual review.

"For fiscal year 2013, the annual employer participation shall be an amount not to exceed $18,792," Berns' contract states.

That means Berns’ total annual compensation can exceed $150,000.

Berns did not receive a raise this year, but Davis said the agency instead chose to cover his medical insurance through the same provider the city uses.

Upon reviewing Berns' current contract, Councilman Dan Gookin told The Press there was "nothing weird going on." The often outspoken critic of the agency added he is not concerned that the contract spans multiple years, or with the compensation the position garners.

"The issue I've always had with that position, not with Mr. Berns himself, is that this is the only urban renewal agency of its size that has only one employee," Gookin said, adding that in his interactions with city officials and ignite board members he often hears the phrase "I'll run this by Tony."

"It creates way too much power within one position, and for a public entity that is dangerous," Gookin said.

When asked by The Press, Davis said he thinks Berns is uniquely qualified for the position.

“The fact that he’s performed to, or exceeded, expectations for 15 years is demonstrative of that,” Davis said. “He’s the face of our agency. He’s the first point of contact and we rely on him a great deal.”

Prior to being hired by the agency, Berns worked for 20 years in the forestry industry; 17 of those years were spent with Champion International. It was at Champion, Berns said, that he added expertise on finance and management to a foundation gained from obtaining bachelor’s and master’s degrees in forestry from the University of Idaho.

“In 2000, we were taken over by another company within the industry. It had a different culture and wasn’t the right fit,” Berns said, adding he and his wife longed to return to the Northwest.

At the same time, Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency was preparing to hire its first executive director, a move away from paying the city for use of its staff.

“I saw the advertisement and thought it would be an interesting opportunity given my background,” Berns said. “I told the board I have no experience in urban planning, but I have all the skill sets of leadership, communications, finance and management that they were looking for. And they hired me.”

As the sole employee of ignite cda, Berns said he does everything from putting stamps on envelopes and paying the bills to strategic planning with the board and collaborating with multiple public and private entities. The one thing he was not prepared for, he said, was the politicization of urban renewal in Idaho at both a local and state level.

“There’s a constant focus now on educating the community and getting the message out, because a lot of people still don’t understand what we do,” Berns said. “It’s easy to put a lot of misinformation out and one of our challenges is unwinding that misinformation. You try to bring truism into the conversation to help remedy some of these conspiracy theories out there that aren’t real. Now, if you philosophically don't like our model, that's fine — but stay fact-based in the conversation.”

Gookin told The Press he has heard plenty of "scuttlebutt" and rumors regarding the urban renewal agency over the years. The councilman added he feels a lack of transparency within the agency, as well as what he perceives to be a culture of confrontation in both Berns and the board, have led the public at large to disseminate the conspiracy theories Berns mentioned.

"It looks like something is going on there. And if it looks like something is going on, the game's over," Gookin said. "The agency itself has failed to reinvent itself. It's tried and it's failed again and again and again. So, maybe the best thing for it to do is to go away, maybe it (ignite) does need to be retired."

In spite of the politicization and misinformation, Berns said he finds it professionally satisfying to see constant reminders of the fruits of his and the agency’s efforts in developed projects like McEuen Park, the Kroc Center, and Riverstone.

“It’s wonderful to be in a position to work for an organization where you actually get things accomplished and constructed, things that are tangible,” Berns added. “And we’re not done yet.”