MONROE - The Monroe Common Council will meet in special session tonight to interview three finalists for the city's revised "administrator with legal duties" position.
Current City Attorney Rex Ewald is among the candidates, as are Prairie du Chien City Administrator James L. Gitz and attorney James A. Mogen of Rice, Minn. Each will be interviewed for 45 minutes in closed session during the meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. The council will discuss candidate qualifications, then in open session discuss procedures and timelines to continue with the interview and hiring process.
The revised job description calls for the administrator's responsibilities to include legal duties as well as human resources functions. The next administrator is expected to take up his duties in January.
Each of the candidates has a law degree, but would bring different experiences and interests to the position.
Gitz, 61, has extensive governmental experience. He was a Democratic state senator in Illinois from 1979 to 1982. Later, he was a two-term mayor in Freeport, Ill. He also has been a city attorney in Urbana, Ill., and has been Prairie du Chien's city administrator since December 2007.
"The combination of legal and administrative (duties) intrigues me," Gitz said. He said he would draw on his background in municipal law and municipal administration.
Gitz is resigning his current post by the end of the year. Twenty months after he was hired, the city council in Prairie du Chien voted 7-5 to accept Gitz's resignation. The Telegraph-Herald of Dubuque, Iowa, reported on Aug. 6 that Gitz said his resignation was voluntary, but an effort was made by several council members to keep him.
The resignation came after the council and committees held meetings to consider dismissal, demotion or discipline of Gitz and City Planner Garth Frable, the Telegraph-Herald reported. The disagreements between the two dealt with the preparation of the city's capital budget and non-complimentary e-mails, the paper reported.
"We made some painful cuts and built up the general fund there," Gitz told the Times. "I worked with a fine group who helped find cuts, and we got a better foot hold (financially). That's something I'm proud of."
Gitz said he loves Prairie du Chien and the city's beauty. Leaving it, he said, was a hard decision.
"I came because of its history, and the community had some interesting issues to work on. The mayor and council has changed substantially since I came, and I think I'm done with the work that I came to do. I'm ready to move on to other challenges," he said.
Gitz also resigned from his position as city attorney in Urbana, Ill., in February 2007. City officials declined to give a reason for the resignation, The News-Gazette of Champaign, Ill., reported then. Urbana Chief of Staff Mike Monson, who was the reporter who wrote the story at the time, declined to comment to the Times.
Mogen, 38, said that while this would be his first city administrator position, "clearly, that job description seems as if it was designed for me." He said it's a "perfect opportunity for me to apply my law and public administrator education." Mogen has a bachelor's degree in environmental studies from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn.
He served with the Minnesota attorney general, representing the departments of transpiration, and labor and industry. He also served as a staff member with the Metropolitan Council, the Ramsey County Attorney's office and the Minnesota Senate.
Monroe's downtown renovations, particularly the pedestrian aspect and walkways, remind Mogen of work he was involved with in downtown St. Paul and along University Avenue. He ran unsuccessfully for a Ramsey County Commissioners seat in 2005.
"I wanted to bring my economic development background to it," he said. "There were a lot of projects that I thought needed a fresh look. And I thought the county could assist the local, with a more regional look at those areas. University Avenue had become stagnant in the last 20 years, and it was difficult for local areas to get together. I thought the county could take in housing and traffic duties."
Mogen said he's handled many city administrator duties, from human resources and negotiations, to various projects for small communities without enough staff. About 95 percent of his clients at the Rinke Noonen Law firm were smaller cities with populations of between 1,000 and 11,000. He left the firm in May, as government aid began to diminish and cities began to cut back on projects.
Since then, Mogen said he's been taking continuing education courses in public administration. He expects to complete a graduate certificate in Public Administration this fall, as well as an Emerging Leaders Development Program in April 2011.
Ewald, 59, said in his cover letter while applying for the post that he recognized he was in "a unique position to be able to make an immediate difference in a difficult time for the City."
"I would hope to eliminate a portion of the city's cost for legal services by eliminating the overlap of time spent in meetings and by merging legal analysis with management decision making," he wrote.
"I know very well, from a city attorney perspective, and can see very clearly those (administrative) things that overlap relative to the city attorney (position)," he told the Times.
Ewald has been Monroe's city attorney for 21 years. The city attorney is on retainer, and is not a full-time position. Much of the work he currently does for the city would be wrapped into the revised administrator position. Ewald has degrees in economics, geography and law. He has practiced law in Monroe since 1979, and is a partner in Voegeli, Ewald and Bartholf Law Offices.
He was reluctant to answer questions about the new position and upcoming interviews, preferring to let his resume and 30 years of living and working in Monroe speak for him.
"I think it's speculative and not appropriate to say what else I would do," Ewald said. "But one thing I would do is sit down with department heads the first day and figure out what would be the (city's) priorities."
Ewald wrote in his cover letter that knowing department heads and council members would mean there would be "no surprises" for him coming into the position. "Little time should be needed for me to come up to speed on administrative and management priorities," he wrote.
Prior to studying law, Ewald was an economic planner on the Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission in Platteville.
"During my three years with the commission, I gained a healthy insight into the economic characteristics of Monroe," Ewald wrote. That insight, he believes, is still "quite relevant."
Ewald has paid close attention to the City of Monroe Plan Commission, advising and creating numerous Planned Unit Developments and other legal documents. He also attends numerous other city committee meetings and acts as parliamentarian at Common Council meetings.
The three finalists were chosen from the six applications the city received. Mogen said the small number of applicants might have been caused by the specificity of the job description.
Applicants needed a degree from an accredited law school, five years of legal experience with three in municipal law, and to be a member of the Wisconsin Bar Association. The city administrator will be required to write policies, ordinances, resolutions, contracts and agreements, and other legal documents, as well as provide litigation, prosecution and other legal services for the city. Human resources duties, including overseeing all personnel matters, also are in the job description.
Current City Attorney Rex Ewald is among the candidates, as are Prairie du Chien City Administrator James L. Gitz and attorney James A. Mogen of Rice, Minn. Each will be interviewed for 45 minutes in closed session during the meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. The council will discuss candidate qualifications, then in open session discuss procedures and timelines to continue with the interview and hiring process.
The revised job description calls for the administrator's responsibilities to include legal duties as well as human resources functions. The next administrator is expected to take up his duties in January.
Each of the candidates has a law degree, but would bring different experiences and interests to the position.
Gitz, 61, has extensive governmental experience. He was a Democratic state senator in Illinois from 1979 to 1982. Later, he was a two-term mayor in Freeport, Ill. He also has been a city attorney in Urbana, Ill., and has been Prairie du Chien's city administrator since December 2007.
"The combination of legal and administrative (duties) intrigues me," Gitz said. He said he would draw on his background in municipal law and municipal administration.
Gitz is resigning his current post by the end of the year. Twenty months after he was hired, the city council in Prairie du Chien voted 7-5 to accept Gitz's resignation. The Telegraph-Herald of Dubuque, Iowa, reported on Aug. 6 that Gitz said his resignation was voluntary, but an effort was made by several council members to keep him.
The resignation came after the council and committees held meetings to consider dismissal, demotion or discipline of Gitz and City Planner Garth Frable, the Telegraph-Herald reported. The disagreements between the two dealt with the preparation of the city's capital budget and non-complimentary e-mails, the paper reported.
"We made some painful cuts and built up the general fund there," Gitz told the Times. "I worked with a fine group who helped find cuts, and we got a better foot hold (financially). That's something I'm proud of."
Gitz said he loves Prairie du Chien and the city's beauty. Leaving it, he said, was a hard decision.
"I came because of its history, and the community had some interesting issues to work on. The mayor and council has changed substantially since I came, and I think I'm done with the work that I came to do. I'm ready to move on to other challenges," he said.
Gitz also resigned from his position as city attorney in Urbana, Ill., in February 2007. City officials declined to give a reason for the resignation, The News-Gazette of Champaign, Ill., reported then. Urbana Chief of Staff Mike Monson, who was the reporter who wrote the story at the time, declined to comment to the Times.
Mogen, 38, said that while this would be his first city administrator position, "clearly, that job description seems as if it was designed for me." He said it's a "perfect opportunity for me to apply my law and public administrator education." Mogen has a bachelor's degree in environmental studies from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn.
He served with the Minnesota attorney general, representing the departments of transpiration, and labor and industry. He also served as a staff member with the Metropolitan Council, the Ramsey County Attorney's office and the Minnesota Senate.
Monroe's downtown renovations, particularly the pedestrian aspect and walkways, remind Mogen of work he was involved with in downtown St. Paul and along University Avenue. He ran unsuccessfully for a Ramsey County Commissioners seat in 2005.
"I wanted to bring my economic development background to it," he said. "There were a lot of projects that I thought needed a fresh look. And I thought the county could assist the local, with a more regional look at those areas. University Avenue had become stagnant in the last 20 years, and it was difficult for local areas to get together. I thought the county could take in housing and traffic duties."
Mogen said he's handled many city administrator duties, from human resources and negotiations, to various projects for small communities without enough staff. About 95 percent of his clients at the Rinke Noonen Law firm were smaller cities with populations of between 1,000 and 11,000. He left the firm in May, as government aid began to diminish and cities began to cut back on projects.
Since then, Mogen said he's been taking continuing education courses in public administration. He expects to complete a graduate certificate in Public Administration this fall, as well as an Emerging Leaders Development Program in April 2011.
Ewald, 59, said in his cover letter while applying for the post that he recognized he was in "a unique position to be able to make an immediate difference in a difficult time for the City."
"I would hope to eliminate a portion of the city's cost for legal services by eliminating the overlap of time spent in meetings and by merging legal analysis with management decision making," he wrote.
"I know very well, from a city attorney perspective, and can see very clearly those (administrative) things that overlap relative to the city attorney (position)," he told the Times.
Ewald has been Monroe's city attorney for 21 years. The city attorney is on retainer, and is not a full-time position. Much of the work he currently does for the city would be wrapped into the revised administrator position. Ewald has degrees in economics, geography and law. He has practiced law in Monroe since 1979, and is a partner in Voegeli, Ewald and Bartholf Law Offices.
He was reluctant to answer questions about the new position and upcoming interviews, preferring to let his resume and 30 years of living and working in Monroe speak for him.
"I think it's speculative and not appropriate to say what else I would do," Ewald said. "But one thing I would do is sit down with department heads the first day and figure out what would be the (city's) priorities."
Ewald wrote in his cover letter that knowing department heads and council members would mean there would be "no surprises" for him coming into the position. "Little time should be needed for me to come up to speed on administrative and management priorities," he wrote.
Prior to studying law, Ewald was an economic planner on the Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission in Platteville.
"During my three years with the commission, I gained a healthy insight into the economic characteristics of Monroe," Ewald wrote. That insight, he believes, is still "quite relevant."
Ewald has paid close attention to the City of Monroe Plan Commission, advising and creating numerous Planned Unit Developments and other legal documents. He also attends numerous other city committee meetings and acts as parliamentarian at Common Council meetings.
The three finalists were chosen from the six applications the city received. Mogen said the small number of applicants might have been caused by the specificity of the job description.
Applicants needed a degree from an accredited law school, five years of legal experience with three in municipal law, and to be a member of the Wisconsin Bar Association. The city administrator will be required to write policies, ordinances, resolutions, contracts and agreements, and other legal documents, as well as provide litigation, prosecution and other legal services for the city. Human resources duties, including overseeing all personnel matters, also are in the job description.