Interim finance director quits
Aspen’s finance department, already in need of a director, will soon lose its assistant director, as well.
David Hurd, who has been acting finance director for the city since former Finance Director Tabatha Miller stepped down in January, tendered his resignation on Thursday.
Hurd said he has accepted a position as controller for Frias Properties of Aspen, a property management company. He gave the city two weeks’ notice.
“I was not actively looking for another opportunity, but it’s an opportunity that presented itself that has the potential and the challenges I was looking for,” Hurd said Thursday.
Hurd had been among the candidates for the finance director’s post. City Manager Steve Barwick said he selected eight applicants to interview for the position, but that four of them, including Hurd, withdrew from contention before they were interviewed.
Hurd joined the finance department three years ago as a senior accountant and was named assistant finance director more than a year ago. Almost immediately after stepping up as interim director, he found himself consumed with the task of analyzing the city’s real estate transfer tax revenues, in response to a lawsuit filed last month challenging the taxes.
Hurd called the RETT analysis a “monumental number-crunching project,” but said Thursday it had nothing to do with his decision to take another job.
Barwick said, half-jokingly, that he reacted to Hurd’s resignation with “panic,” especially since the extra workload associated with assessing the impact of the RETT lawsuit is not finished.
“It has clearly left a very large hole in the finance department at this point,” Barwick said.
There are 10 positions in the finance department, according to Hurd. His resignation will leave the two top posts empty. No new interim director has been named.
“There is never a good time to leave a job when you’re filling a vital role within the city,” Hurd said. “But the day-to-day accounting functions are going to go along fine. We have a fantastic staff.”
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