His name does not appear on the outside of any of the buildings or projects that have been part of Healdsburg’s renaissance as a cherished small town and a world class food, wine and tourist destination. But his signature is found on two decades of city documents that lay the foundation for much of what defines today’s streetscape, enterprises and edifices.
Kurt Hahn, Healdsburg’s finance director for 22 years and author of its redevelopment agency, died on April 8. He was 78.
A native of Vallejo, Hahn came to Healdsburg in 1977 with his wife Joandell and young family. He immediately set out to use his political and public service backgrounds to help lead a new chapter for the sleepy farming community that was still more famous for its prunes than wine grapes.
His cowboy boots, shiny belt buckle and chain smoking during meetings fit those earlier times. The smoking stopped in later years but Hahn stayed mostly the same as the city quickly evolved around him.
“He really saw what a gem we had here,” said a former mayor and current chamber of commerce executive director Carla Howell. “Give him credit for his vision because he really found all the ways to increase our exposure and benefit the community in bigger and better ways.”
After retiring from the city in 1999, Hahn moved on to an unintended second career as hospital director and fiscal advisor. With Dr. Dan Rose, Henry Hersch and others he was instrumental in keeping Healdsburg General Hospital in operation and securing public financing that supports the hospital and north county health care district to this day.
Hahn was also very active as a Boy Scouts of America leader, serving as president of the Redwood Empire Council of BSA and recipient of Eagle Scout and Silver Beaver awards.
He is survived by his wife, four children and 11 grandchildren.
Jerry Eddinger was mayor when Hahn was hired in 1977. “Things worked differently then. Two of us interviewed Kurt. We didn’t know anything about computers but Kurt said we needed them. So we hired him and he brought in the first computerized billing system the city ever had.”
Eddinger gives credit to Hahn for creating the city’s redevelopment agency, a state-approved tax mechanism used by hundreds of cities that the legislature terminated in 2012, including Healdsburg’s.
Hahn’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) was formed in 1980 to restore the town’s commercial core, aging infrastructure and substandard housing stock. It’s legal purpose was to “fight blight.”
A big part of the redevelopment agency was an economic development plan to promote a fledgling wine industry and accompanying tourism. The first new tourist lodging, Hotel Healdsburg, and a nearby retail building (the Swenson clock tower) were built on CRA-owned land.
John Holt, a partner in Hotel Healdsburg and other downtown properties said Hahn “always tried to find ways to meet everyone’s needs. We sometimes had our differences but I always found they were easy to settle. Kurt was a good man. I have a great deal of respect for him.”
Eventually, a pedestrian friendly downtown streetscape, commercial building facade and seismic improvements, new library, police station, city hall, off-street parking, a new street (Vine), senior and affordable housing projects and millions in promotional marketing funds were all accomplished under the CRA program.
Hahn’s tenure at City Hall included serving three city managers and a generation of elected city council members. Besides his redevelopment and city budgeting authority, Hahn added extra city hall duties on his own, including senior housing, city bus service, the municipal airport and the electric utility’s partnership with Northern California Power Agency (NCPA.)
“Kurt was very good at protecting the interests of the city,” Holt said.
“If you asked Kurt a question you had to be prepared for a 45-minute answer,” said Howell. “He would tell you how something would work, why we needed to do it and why it had to be supported.”
After graduating from the University of Southern California, Hahn served on the city council of Duarte and worked for the City of Los Angeles and Aerojet General Corporation before returning to northern California.
He was very active in Republican Party politics and campaigns, including Ronald Reagan’s governorship race. He also served in the U.S. Army at Ft. Ord in Monterey.
Hahn was very active in statewide issues pertaining to redevelopment agency issues and municipal financial administration, serving on several professional and government advocacy groups.
He was a member of the American Legion and Healdsburg Shared Ministries and a past president of the Healdsburg Kiwanis Club.
After retiring from the city in 1999, Hahn went on to serve for 15 years on the board of directors of the North Sonoma County Healthcare District and the Healdsburg District Hospital until retiring again in 2014.
A memorial service will be announced at a later date, according to Hahn’s family.
