Washington hires new city clerk

WASHINGTON — Council members voted unanimously Tuesday night to appoint a new Washington city clerk, setting the municipality up for fully staffed leadership it hasn’t seen in over a year and a half.

The offer was extended to Kathy Kron, a Riverside resident whose background includes a number of customer service, sales and administrative office jobs. She said she was eager to participate in the community.

“I’ve always enjoyed the city and enjoyed learning new things, and the people of Washington,” she said. “I’m excited to be able to be more involved and learn more about the city.”

Elected officials said they were “excited” to finalize the hire. Council Member and former City Clerk Illa Earnest said Kron had a “calm personality, and came across as a good worker,” adding that she had relevant work experience and seemed like a good fit with other personalities at city hall.

“We all kind of settled on her pretty quickly, after we did all the interviews,” Earnest said. “She seemed to fit the bill as far as somebody with good demeanor … you solve a lot of problems if you get everybody to play nice together (and) she’s going to be great, I think.”

The clerk’s position comes with a $65,000 salary, standard municipal employee insurance benefits, and two weeks of paid vacation per year, according to a copy of her written job offer provided to The Union. The letter listed a tentative start date of Oct. 7.

Mayor Millie Youngquist said Kron was picked from a field of four applicants interviewed for the job, which has remained vacant since the last clerk was removed in late June.

Officials held a closed session to discuss the candidates before making a final decision at their regular meeting Sept. 17. For a personnel discussion, the closed session was unusually brief, totaling almost exactly seven minutes. But Youngquist said the offer was far from a snap decision.

“We talked it over a lot, the smaller committee,” she said. “But I think we all agreed that this person had the qualities and some of the experience … that we need.”

Kron’s hire will mean filled offices in every top municipal decision-making position for the first time since January of 2023. Since then, Washington’s local government has faced a string of absences, starting with a lengthy unpaid leave for its former mayor, followed by a vacated city council seat with Youngquist’s election to mayor in May, the departure of Deanna McCusker who resigned as city administrator later that month, and soon after, the removal of previous City Clerk Amanda Waugh in June.

The city has rapidly covered its bases in the last few months, however, as Council Member Ken Schroeder and City Administrator Joe Gaa took on their respective roles in August. The clerk’s position remains the last remnant of the tumultuous period, in which officials often juggled duties beyond their normal workloads.

“We’re eager to get the full staff back,” Gaa said.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com