A convicted felon was the best candidate for the vice president of real estate and community development position with the St. Louis County Economic Council, according to county officials.

Dean Burns, who pleaded guilty in 1999 to transferring nearly $30,000 of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, funds to his own company in 1994, recently was hired by the Economic Council — to a position he first held in 1996.

Sixth District Councilman Steve Stenger, D-Affton, told the Call Economic Council officials said they looked “all over the country” and the “most qualified person they could find for this job is a convicted felon.”

“That just simply can’t be,” Stenger said. “I question the truthfulness of that statement. I think what they’re trying to do is put perfume on a pig.”

Burns voluntarily settled with HUD for improper use of HUD funds and entered into an agreement not to file applications in front of HUD for roughly two years.

Burns left the Economic Council in 1999 because the allegations were “proving too great a distraction to work,” according to Andrew Ruben, general counsel and senior vice president of real estate and community development with the council. Burns was “immediately” hired by THF Realty, Ruben said.

“… It’s not as if his career took a sharp, left turn,” Ruben said.

Stenger also questioned the motivation for hiring Burns and said he does not believe Burns is the “most qualified.”

“I think that this is another example of political favoritism and cronyism,” Stenger said.

Katy Jamboretz, vice president of marketing and communications for the Economic Council, said Burns’ hire “couldn’t be any less of a political cronyism story.”

“Dean Burns doesn’t know the county executive,” Jamboretz said. “Dean and (President and CEO of the Economic Council) Denny Coleman are very loosely, professionally related.”

Ruben said he is “not aware of any issues” related to political favoritism and cronyism.

Additionally, Stenger said Burns’ hire is “dysfunctional” because Burns will be working in the same field for which he pleaded guilty to a crime. The councilman also called for County Executive Charlie Dooley to tell Coleman that Burns “can no longer work” for the Economic Council.

In response to Stenger’s call for Burns’ termination, Ruben, who hired Burns, said his obligation is to find the best person for the job and Burns “is the best person.”

Looking back to create the “appearance of ethics issues,” according to Ruben, is “inappropriate and borders on unfair.”

Burns has a “long history” in public-sector development, Ruben said. While with THF Realty, Ruben said Burns worked on the development of the Chesterfield Commons and was “really on the forefront of the private sector there.”

For the past five years, Burns worked as senior vice president of development with Gundaker Commercial Group.

“I think (Dean Burns) genuinely has his heart in the public sector and was very excited to come back to this kind of work we do …,” he said. “There are no legal issues. There is no current prohibition from any direction on him working with us.”

The Economic Council, according to Ruben, “straddles the public and private sector in operations.”

“Being experienced at his level in both of them is really what makes him such a great asset to the group,” Ruben said.

In searching to fill the vice president position, Ruben said the council advertised the position nationally and locally.

Nationally, advertising was done through the International Economic Development Council, the largest membership organization for economic development. The council also had a search firm to support local advertising and to screen resumes.

Ruben said the search firm screened out the first 50 percent of applicants, which he estimated was 50 or more applicants. As far as “serious range” candidates, Ruben said there were roughly 15 to 20. The process took three to four months.

Burns was hired at a salary of $127,816, which is more than double his salary of $59,000 when he was first hired for the position.

The current salary, according to Stenger, is “outrageous for a convicted felon.”

Ruben said Burns’ current salary was determined through a grade scale, though Ruben is not directly involved. Burns is “coming in at the exact indicated point he was slotted for,” according to Ruben, who also said how salaries are determined is “fairly formulaic.”

The vice president position, according to Stenger, is a “position of trust and reliance” and the county cannot afford to have Burns working in that role.

Because of the position’s importance, Stenger said it should be filled with someone who has a “clean slate” — not a convicted felon.

“(This presents) layer upon layer upon layer of problems for taxpayers,” Stenger said.

Stenger said Burns’ hire places the county at a “greater risk for deceitful conduct.”

“I think that at a minimum (Burns’ hiring) has the appearance of impropriety, and I don’t think that the taxpayers of St. Louis County, for what they pay for their government, deserve even the appearance of impropriety,” Stenger said.

But Jamboretz said Burns “proves himself to be extraordinarily qualified.”

Contacted by the Call, Mac Scott, Dooley’s spokesman, referred questions to Jamboretz and Coleman.