You have to hand it to Tom Hadden for sometimes doing the unexpected in his career. Turning the Metro Waste Authority landfill in eastern Polk County into a nature reserve during the 18 years he was the agency’s executive director is just one of those unexpected twists. There are others. He once wanted to be a crime scene specialist for the FBI. After serving 12 years as city administrator for Altoona, he became a voice of caution about the extravagant use of tax increment financing as a development tool. Maybe that was because he saw the effects of redirecting property tax revenue from schools. Hadden got a firsthand look at that as president of the Southeast Polk school board. He also has worked for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. His influence as an advocate for conservation moved Hubbell Realty Co. to introduce prairies and take other steps to lessen the environmental impact of some of the company’s housing developments. Hadden has been an active participant in a range of governmental affairs, having served on the Solid Waste Regional Planning Committee, the Watershed Planning Advisory Committee, the Governor’s Water Quality Task Force, the Wastewater Reclamation Authority and the Iowa Environmental Council. He’s taking a step back from those roles because of the demands of his new job. He needs more time to spend with his family … and to walk his dog, Albert.

Were you looking for a new job when you came to West Des Moines?
I got a cold call from (West Des Moines Mayor) Steve Gaer. He contacted me and asked whether I would be interested in considering the job. He called me again and said would you want to apply. There are not too many communities I would jump at the opportunity to try to step in. West Des Moines is one.

Did you leave any unfinished business at Metro Waste Authority?
There are always more things to do. But the energy level for this organization wasn’t what I thought it should be. I could see it needed someone with fresh perspective. I enjoy city government. I was in Altoona for 12 years, and I wanted to get into it. I had a great job (at Metro Waste) and I truly enjoyed it. I got to work with all of the communities in Greater Des Moines, and I was in the environmental field, which I really enjoy. I took great pride in making that facility special. 

What are the challenges in a rapidly developing city like West Des Moines?
It has great challenges and opportunities. The challenge in a growing community is matching your resources with the needs and wants of the community and staying up with that. We’re growing in population. We’re growing in land area. Public safety is more than half of your fixed costs, and expectations are high for public services. It does push you to provide that level of service. We just want to be efficient and we don’t want to raise taxes. But the state has made changes in the property tax (law). The big hit to West Des Moines is that we have a significant amount of apartments, so that is going to be an impact. (Most apartment owners will see their property tax bills drop as a result of major changes that were approved by the Iowa Legislature in 2013.) It’s balancing development and infill. We want to make sure one of things we look at in the budget is the Valley Junction area for a redevelopment plan, which is pretty exciting. We want to make sure we keep the city vibrant in all aspects, not just the newer development. University Avenue and Westown Parkway, we want to see if we can come up with some strategies to get some redevelopment there. 

What would you like to see happen in Valley Junction?
I think Valley Junction is a real asset. It has unique shopping. When people talk about walkable areas, areas where they can ride their bikes, we want to keep that whole area vibrant. If the city can make investments, then the private side will make investments too. Phenix school will be a development where artisans can live and work. We want to get a mix of ages living and working there. It has the kind of unique character that you want.

Are you looking at an update to the comprehensive plan?
I think we have to revisit the comprehensive plan in the not too distant future because changes happen so quickly. We need to look at the infrastructure needs and the land use plans and how we can look closer at the environmental features of our land.

Will you fill any staff vacancies?
The fire chief just retired. Jody (Smith) retired. He was kind of the man for all seasons. I’ll be looking for a deputy city manager in the next year to fill Jody’s spot, but also for succession planning to get an idea of who will be the city manager when I leave. A development director will be hired. As far as department heads, those are the big ones. … We did hire a communications director for the first time in West Des Moines.

Do you have a timetable for your retirement?
No. I suppose I’d like to put in five to seven years here. I’m 61. I’m trying to stay healthy and keep my wits about me.

What are the drawbacks to the kind of rapid growth that West Des Moines has experienced?
We don’t staff for peaks. So we are very demanding on the development side of the organization, the engineers and planning, to still get a decent turnaround when the plans come in. That is challenging, and you want to make good decisions. Sometimes I think when you are working so hard to keep up with the growth that you want to take a breath once in a while to look on the horizon and say, OK, what are the future trends? You can’t prepare for every possibility, but you can certainly try to be proactive. Recently we brought in a futurist to speak to the council and the staff to get us thinking down the road. She is going to be working with the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce, and we’re going to blend that with some of our staff management team to do some vision planning. We just want to make sure that we aren’t in a “can’t see the forest for the trees” type of situation. … It puts you 20 or 30 years out rather than quarterly, yearly, every five years. We do our strategic planning and say “get out of your comfort zone and think of what could be good and bad in the trends for your community.”

Did anybody roll their eyes when you said you were bringing in a futurist?
They may have done it when I wasn’t looking. Once they heard her speak, I think they could see the value of bringing her to the community.

What kind of imprint would you like to leave on West Des Moines?
I’d like to make some of our infrastructure more green. Our storm water management system could be more of an amenity. It could be a series of ponds and greenways that could be more walkable, where we can. … We have some beautiful countryside here if we could just work with it. There is great value if we could save some of those areas. Knapp Properties took some of their area south of the Raccoon and preserved hundreds of acres. That kind of thinking will take us a long way.