MONROE — The City of Monroe will resume its search for a new city administrator after the initial person selected for the job backed out due to personal reasons.

Adam Swann, currently the city administrator in Caledonia, Minnesota, had signed a contract with the City of Monroe to be its next administrator. Swann said he had to make the “very difficult” decision of changing plans due to personal issues that included his spouse losing employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We started to look at ‘how can we make it work’ and it was not possible,” Swann, who has been administrator in Caledonia since 2016 said. “I feel terrible about it. The mayor (Louis Armstrong) was very helpful and the city clerk (Brittney Rindy) was very helpful … It was an opportunity to be part of a great community… It was just too big of a cost.”

The Monroe Common Council decided to start its hiring process from scratch May 26 after Swann stepped back. The city is continuing to work with the recruiting agency of GovHR USA. Rindy said she’s hopeful the new process to find candidates will go quickly because GovHR USA has the information needed to jump into the process.

Monroe has been without a city administrator since the resignation of Phil Rath in October of 2019. After his resignation, Rath, who had been Monroe’s administrator for nine years, was hired as the city administrator for Ottumwa, Iowa.

Swann was Monroe’s top choice out of five finalists in its initial job search. A total of 44 people had applied for the position.