The city of Oregon has received transaction logs from the Oregon Economic Development Foundation on real estate purchases after requests for them had gone unanswered for months.
The nonprofit foundation is the city’s main economic development arm. It receives $100,000 in funds annually from Oregon as part of its operating budget. Funding is also provided by dues-paying members from the business community.
The city held up its $100,000 payment until financial issues with the foundation were resolved, officials said.
Mayor Mike Seferian, City Administrator Joel Mazur, and Finance Director Nick Roman met with foundation officials recently to discuss the matter. They finally saw that the ledgers were balanced.
“Ledgers showed all the incoming money in their land account, and all the expenditures,” the mayor said. “We went down each of the items and identified them, and they ended up balancing.”
The transaction logs showed the expenses and revenue from $1.7 million the city contributed to the foundation last year to buy property for commercial and industrial development.
“The report on the ledger matched what the bank account statement showed. That’s what we were waiting for,” Mr. Roman said.
“They provided us with a report of all the transactions, all the way from January 1 of 2022 through December 31 of 2024,” Mr. Roman added. “It balances out to the penny for the expenditures and income that went into the foundation and the city’s land account.”
Mr. Seferian said the foundation took longer than it should have to provide the city with the requested financial documents.
“It took a long time to get it, and we had to push them pretty hard,” the mayor said. “When they showed up, they had all the documents and the backup for it.”
The city will release the $100,000 it contributes annually to the foundation, which was held back during the impasse, the mayor said.
In December, the city had finally received financial statements from the foundation for 2022 and 2023, which Mr. Roman had been requesting for months.
The foundation had failed to submit the statements, despite an agreement in 2022 to do so annually.
Bradley Henning, the foundation’s former executive director, was let go in November after just three months on the job allegedly because of his failure to produce the statements.
“We have some sloppiness going on,” Councilman Beth Ackerman said, suggesting that the $100,000 be withheld further until the city determines whether to be part of the foundation anymore. “It’s not just about the transactions — it’s being accountable to the state, the feds, the city, and the taxpayers. We have a right to know things.”
Tim Pedro, president of the foundation’s board of directors, did not return calls from The Blade for comment.
First Published January 27, 2025, 9:38 p.m.
