Former Hideout town administrator Jan McCosh claims she was fired by Mayor Ralph Severini after raising concerns about the town’s finances.
“My termination was retaliatory because I pointed out on several instances to councilmembers, financial staff, our budget resident consultant, legal counsel and others that there was gross financial mismanagement of taxpayer resources happening,” she said.
Severini told KPCW he “respectfully but unequivocally disagrees with” McCosh’s allegations.
“We reject the suggestion that the decision was motivated by retaliation or any improper purpose,” he said in an email.
He said the decision was financially motivated.
At a meeting July 9, he said it’s “redundant” for a town Hideout’s size to have an administrator.
“Based upon what other towns do in our class, there’s 140 towns below 10,000,” he said. “Almost literally none of them have town administrators.”
An attorney with decades of financial management experience, McCosh had run the Wasatch County town since 2019.
She said she was told June 11 her position had been eliminated due to a reorganization.
The town website now lists Severini as its administrator.
During public comment at a council meeting July 9, McCosh alleged her firing was pretextual. That means she believes the real reason for the move didn’t match the stated reason.
“The reorganization was never discussed prior to the [June 11] meeting,” she said. “That ensued after I was terminated. I was never given an opportunity to be heard until now.”
She said she was let go because she questioned a proposed contract with Larry H. Miller Real Estate and the Military Installation Development Authority.
Larry H. Miller is developing Silver Meadows, a mixed-use project in Richardson Flat that would create a Hideout town center. MIDA has a tax increment agreement in several Hideout neighborhoods.
“There was a two-by-two with LHM, MIDA to move forward with MIDA funding that would have resulted in a $7 million deficit spend to the taxpayers over a 10-year period,” McCosh said. “I met with LHM [and] MIDA in a meeting earlier in the year, and in that meeting told them we needed to do financial modeling to find what was in the best interest of all of us. After that meeting, I was cut out from the future discussions with MIDA and LHM, despite the fact that I am the administrator of the Silver Meadows annexation area.”
Severini told KPCW no decisions have been made about economic development incentives for the Silver Meadows project, but that “any proposal would be considered through the public process.”
McCosh further alleged Mustang Development – whose principal was the first Hideout mayor – had a hand in the decision.
“My termination was likely because the mayor was asked to terminate me in collusion with a developer,” she said.
She said Mustang’s attorney requested years’ worth of her emails in December 2025.
Severini told KPCW Mustang had no involvement in the reorganization.
Mustang Development’s attorney declined to comment on McCosh’s allegations.
MIDA spokesperson Kristin Kenney Williams said Thursday the authority has always had a good relationship with Hideout and with McCosh.
Larry H. Miller Real Estate did not immediately respond to KPCW’s request for comment.
The town council voted unanimously July 9 to “affirm the mayor’s decision” to eliminate the administrator role.
