Posted on 10/09/2009 5:33:28 PM PDT by narses
Board chairman: Brannon dismissed for fiscal, not political, reasons
COEUR d'ALENE -- Ninety minutes before his live, televised debate for a Coeur d'Alene city council seat was to begin Wednesday evening, Jim Brannon was notified that he was fired.
Brannon, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of North Idaho, was given a letter stating that today would be his last day and that he would be paid through the end of the month.
Habitat board chairman Rick Shipman says the decision to eliminate Brannon's job was purely fiscal.
Brannon supporter and businessman Jim Doty believes the decision was politically inspired.
"It's pretty hard to sleep at night knowing that you're eliminating one of your best coworkers," Shipman said Thursday. "It was extremely painful. We went through a lot of deliberations knowing what a good job Jim's done -- and to have to do that -- but we felt like we can go back to a managing board."
Shipman said nobody on the 11-member board even knew Brannon's debate was coming up.
But Doty isn't convinced, even though he concedes that he has "no solid proof" for his opinions.
"The part that is concerning about this is the timing," Doty said. "Anybody that attempts to come in and change the general makeup of our city council or Lake City Development Corp. or the relationships between (them) is scrutinized, intimidated, and clearly made to feel unwelcome."
Brannon, who took over as Habitat's first director in June 2006, is running against council incumbent Mike Kennedy. During the debate Wednesday, Brannon spoke out against city spending and the role of LCDC, two prevalent themes in his campaign.
While Brannon would not conclude that he was fired for political reasons, he acknowledged that he had heard unfavorable feedback from the organization after he lost his last bid for the council seat held by Al Hassell two years ago. He declined to go into detail on that Wednesday.
Shipman, meanwhile, said budget was the only driving force in the decision.
He said the board reluctantly agreed to eliminate Brannon's position during a special meeting Tuesday evening after reviewing options in the face of shrinking Habitat revenues. With a 2010 budget of about $500,000 adopted in the summer, revenues came in lower than expected in September, Shipman said.
"It's not Jim's fault we've fallen on hard times," he said.
Shipman also refuted any suggestions of playing politics.
"That would be inappropriate for anybody to say that our organization was trying to hurt Jim in any way. I hope it has no effect on what he's doing with his life and with the community," Shipman said. "We don't discuss anything from a political nature; that's not a part of our organization at all. That's something Jim does as an outstanding citizen who gets involved in the community."
Brannon told the Press that he had presented a number of budgetary options during the summer in case revenues fell short of projections. Those options included pay cuts for his position, as well as staff.
Shipman said reducing staff wages, which were not high compared to Brannon's salary of $44,000, could have proved a bigger problem for the organization.
"We were afraid they would leave us and go somewhere else and they're key employees," he said. "They know the intricacies of our operation."
However, Brannon said he had submitted a proposal Wednesday that would have reduced his job to less than 40 hours a week at minimum wage, but by then, the board had decided to eliminate the director's job.
"I'm disappointed because there was a plan that wasn't followed," Brannon said. "I believe in the Habitat organization. I've given three and half years of my life for it. I do not want this organization brought down in any way."
He added he plans to continue his campaign for the Coeur d'Alene city council seat.
Read the comments, join in please.
HFH is an extremely arrogant organization with no respect for the rights of adjacent property owners.
And "do gooder" city councils are only too willing to back their ill-conceived projects.
The Habitat store was close to a where I worked a few years ago. The manager had the most disgusting gay bumper sticker on his car. I do not like HFH.
They con companies into gettting their workers to do free labor on the weekends.
I thought all this HFH stuff was purely volunteer positions.
I had no idea they actually had paid staff for this stuff.
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