City to discuss replacing Erichson as city engineer

Jon Erichson will start in February as the new executive director of Austin’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

Erichson’s contract was approved by the HRA board at its monthly meeting Thursday, albeit with a few tweaks. Erichson will only work 30 hours a week, and will be paid a $38.80 hourly wage, which is comparable to other HRAs of equal size, according to Marv Repinski, HRA board chairman.

The board’s vote to hire Erichson passed 4-1, with Commissioner Marilyn Prenosil voting against the move.

Repinski said Erichson will be attending board meetings before his start date Feb. 4 and will meet with HRA employees in a special January meeting, where current HRA Executive Director Jim Hurm will bid the department farewell.

Erichson’s retirement date with the city of Austin hasn’t been officially decided yet, but the Austin City Council will be discussing his departure briefly at the next work session, said Trish Wiechmann, human resources director with the city.

“We’re going to open that position up,” Wiechmann said about the city engineer position Erichson would leave vacant. “We’ll go through a hiring process.”

—Trey Mewes contributed to this report.