Plans in motion for new city administrator

The Washington City Council took two major steps in the search for a replacement to City Administrator Brent Hinson, who will leave the position Aug. 6.

The first was a unanimous decision to hire Midwest Municipal Consulting for the candidate search process, an agreement that will run the city $13,300.

“Midwest Municipal Consulting is also familiar with the state of Iowa and the applicant pool,” Mayor Jaron Rosien said. “The timelines that were proposed were similar with each consultant.”

Council member Illa Earnest agreed with Rosien’s recommendation.

“I’d be much more comfortable with an Iowa person, more so than these out of state people,” she said. “Plus, they’re much more expensive, too.”

According to a timeline provided to council members, the company would provide a ranked list of candidates in August, kicking off a two-month process of narrowing the field and selecting a new administrator to start work in October.

Midwest Municipal Consulting President Elizabeth Hansen said she was comfortable with the four-month timeline.

“Another search I’m working on is pretty aggressive as well, and it is feasible,” she said. “I haven’t had any concern about the number of applicants. Depending on how much advertising you want to do, you may want to go a little bit longer, but if I’m working with a personnel committee, the mayor, we can fine tune that timeline to better fit the need of the client.”

The second major motion from the City Council appointed City Clerk & Development Services Director Sally Hart and City Financial Director Kelsey Brown as co-interim city administrators for the months between Hinson’s exit and a new hire’s start.

Hinson expressed absolute confidence in Hart and Brown’s abilities in the interim.

“They are both highly capable, especially, I think, I as a team, of doing very well,” he said. “The goal is at a bare minimum to, of course, keep treading water, so we can keep all the initiatives, no dropped balls, et cetera. But I’m confident that they’ll be able to actually just pick up the ball and run with it.”

The resolution laid out specific duties for both interim city administrators.

Brown will supervise police, water and wastewater treatment, and the cemetery and be the liaison for WEDG and the public library. Hart is tasked with supervising fire and emergency services, parks, and maintenance and construction. She will serve as liaison to the Main Street Washington, the Chamber of Commerce and the hotel/motel committee.

Some finer details of the replacement process remain undecided. Rosien said prominent community members were interested in getting involved, but the council has not yet announced plans to fill a personnel committee.

“When you have a city administrator that works closely with the Washington Economic Development Group or the hospital or our school superintendent, I think that there’s a role for them to play,” Rosien said. “Council, as you well know, you are the decider. But I think there’s a role for others to play in the process, and that’s pretty typical.”