Storm Lake Finance Manager Brian Oakleaf is “taking time off” from his job at city hall for a period city administration declined to specify.
City Manager Keri Navratil confirmed Oakleaf wasn’t at city hall on Tuesday due to a leave of absence. Navratil declined to specify whether the leave was voluntary, how long it was or what prompted it.
“I can’t get into that,” she said of Oakleaf’s status with the city. “That’s involving an employee.”
Deputies with the Buena Vista County Sheriff’s Office and agents with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation were spotted at Oakleaf’s home on Leona Drive on Monday afternoon. Sheriff Kory Elston confirmed his department’s presence at the Leona Drive residence, but deferred all questions to the DCI, which didn’t respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
Oakleaf was hired in September 2016 by then-City Manager Jim Patrick, amid years of turnover at the city finance office. He was hired shortly after he left his role as general manager of King’s Pointe Resort.
He’s been widely praised. He ruddered the city through one of its largest tax increases this century. The city’s overall tax rate has fallen year after year since he was hired. Early in his tenure, the city had the highest tax rate of all entities on a Storm Lake property taxpayer’s bill. It’s now the third largest, behind the county and the school district.
In late 2022, Oakleaf’s office discovered the Buena Vista County Auditor’s Office was misappropriating millions of dollars from the city’s tax-increment financing districts to other entities across the county. After Oakleaf’s discovery, the city’s tax-increment financing revenues more than doubled. The increases paid for a renovation to King’s Pointe Resort and the rebuilding of Memorial Road. The city is also considering converting the dredge spoil site into a recreation area by way of increased tax-increment financing revenues.
Oakleaf’s findings also prompted the city to file a lawsuit against Buena Vista County, alleging all departments abrogated their responsibility to ensure Storm Lake taxpayer money was being distributed to the correct taxing entities. The city claims it lost over $5 million from the misappropriation. A judge recently allowed the city’s lawsuit against the county to proceed. The county has yet to formally respond in court to the city’s lawsuit.
Oakleaf couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday.
link