Former Dakota County CDA director disputes sexual harassment, discrimination accusations

It was a familiar scene on Tuesday as Mark Ulfers, who ran the Dakota County Community Development Agency for nearly three decades, sat before its board and presented a list of achievements — senior housing built, rental vouchers given out, clean financial reports.

What came next was highly unusual. Ulfers ran through the list of accusations that led to his firing: that he made unwanted sexual and romantic advances toward staff, created a hostile work environment, discriminated based on gender, made inappropriate comments and retaliated against employees.

"You damaged my health and have taken away my livelihood and made me unemployable," Ulfers, 59, told the board that fired him in May.

Tuesday's "name clearing hearing" will not make much of a difference, he said, before responding to numerous allegations as his wife, son and former colleagues listened quietly.

The board of the development agency, which is one of the largest organizations of its kind in the state, sent Ulfers a letter in March that laid out the claims and said they planned to fire him for gross negligence. At the meeting this week the officials watched, expressionless, as Ulfers made his case.

Accusations of sexual advances were based on rumor and old, unproven information, Ulfers said, and he never discriminated against employees.

"My hires were, and always have been, based on competency, not gender," he said. "I was very proud of the CDA labor force. I still am."

Ulfers was also accused of misrepresenting the circumstances around an employee's departure from the agency.

He said he gave the board the information as he heard it, and only later found out there was another version of events.

The county has not released any further information about the complaints against Ulfers.

"In my three decades leading the CDA there was never a scandal or even a hint of scandal," Ulfers said.

Ulfers was on medical leave, and considering resigning, at the time he was fired. He has previously said he believed the agency's board, which is the same as the County Board, fired him for cause so they would not have to pay his severance.

His attorney plans to file a demand for arbitration against the agency this week.

The demand says the agency breached its employment agreement and argues Ulfers is entitled to a severance payment equal to a year's pay and benefits, among other things.

Ulfers had worked at the CDA since 1977. He was making $161,250 a year when he was fired.

Deputy Executive Director Kari Gill has been acting director as the agency searches for Ulfers' replacement. Officials plan to conduct candidate interviews in December.

In the meantime, Dakota County and the CDA hired consultants who spent the past month studying the two agencies' relationship. The CDA is a local government agency that generally operates separately from the county but shares a governing board. It manages more than 30 programs and 2,700 units of affordable workforce and senior housing.

"I personally don't think we're as closely coordinated as we should be," he said.

On Tuesday, the consultants told officials that staff from the two organizations need to increase collaboration, better understand each other's roles and the financial opportunities available to each agency.

"The transition from a long-serving executive to new leadership within the CDA comes with inevitable shifts in strategy and culture," their report states. "This is a critical moment of change within the CDA."