Hawaiian Gardens : Redevelopment Chief Quits

After four years as executive director of the city’s Redevelopment Agency, Brian Dunlap has resigned to begin a redevelopment consulting business.

Dunlap, 41, said he resigned to avoid a conflict of interest between his city duties and his consulting work. He acknowledged that he has had a sometimes stormy relationship with the City Council, which doubles as the redevelopment agency, but denied that was the reason for his leaving.

“I won’t say we didn’t have problems,” Dunlap said, “but the differences of opinion were not as great as they might seem. The bottom line is, I needed a change and this was the time to leave.”

Dunlap has been credited by Councilman Donald Schultze with “turning the city around” with his aggressive approach toward redevelopment. “I’m sorry to see him go,” Schultze said. “Since he started, our city has been doing three or four times as much (in redevelopment) as cities twice our size.”

Dudley Lang, a part-time financial consultant for the city, will be acting redevelopment director while the city conducts a nationwide search to fill the post, said City Administrator Charles E. Bryant.

Until January, Dunlap held the combined posts of city administrator and redevelopment agency director and Bryant was asst. city administrator and asst. redevelopment agency director, but because of a recent push for more redevelopment projects, two separate positions were created.

Before taking the Hawaiian Gardens job, Dunlap was city manager of El Monte for two years.