(Beaver Dam) Beaver Dam has a new city administrator. The common council Monday night approved the recommendation of the mayor to hire former Pleasant Prairie Village Administrator Nathan Thiel.
Alderman Ken Anderson abstained from the vote because there was no candidate listed on the agenda and he was unable to get feedback from his constituents.
Alderman Mike Wissell says he felt comfortable voting last night because he did not expect to have his constituents weigh in on the hiring.
The salary for Beaver Dam City Administrator is $140-thousand dollars.
The other finalists were former West Linn, Oregon City Manager Jerry Gabrielatos; Walworth County Director of Public Works Richard Hough; former New London City Administrator Lou Leone; and Columbus City Administrator Kyle Ellefson.
The council approved the creation of the City Administrator position in September while at the same time reducing the role of mayor from full-time to part-time. A similar but less robust position, Director of Administration, was expected to be phased out. In fact, when the new position was first created, there were plans to name a candidate by January.
However, Director of Administration Zak Bloom resigned unexpectedly in November. In January, the council hired GovHR USA at a cost of $22,500 to find a city administrator. John Somers was tabbed to serve in an interim role until a city administrator is in place, having previously spent 23 years in the position before his resignation in 2019.
The city’s recruitment firm GovHR USA described the position as the “Chief Administrative Officer” responsible to the mayor and common council for the business affairs of the city. Duties include administrative functions related to policy, programs and services in all city departments, except public safety.
