Monroe city government took another step Wednesday toward having an administrator at City Hall for the first time in about 18 months. It's important to remember, however, that the city is likely to have an administrator more in name than in practice. Essentially, a city attorney is going to be hired.
The Monroe Common Council's Salary and Personnel Committee on Wednesday narrowed a field of six candidates for the position to three finalists. State law requires the city to publicize the names of finalists, which committee members said they will do Monday after each has verified their continued interest in the job.
For now, all the public knows is that two finalists are from Wisconsin and one is from Minnesota. There was no word Wednesday whether the current city attorney, Rex Ewald, has applied or made the final cut.
Ewald, who works on retainer and has been the appointed city attorney for 21 years, said in late July he was "generally intrigued" by the job.
That the administrator position seemed to be revised to accommodate Ewald led to one of the two votes against the new job description, from Alderwoman Jan Lefevre.
That job description includes writing policies, ordinances, resolutions, contracts and agreements; and providing litigation, prosecution and other legal services for city matters. The position won't eliminate the need for employing outside legal help - traffic and juvenile court prosecution will not be part of the administrator's duties. The preliminary budget reduces the expenses for legal services from $114,300 this year to about $60,000 for 2010.
Filling the administrator position will cost the city about $103,000 in salary, benefits and office expenses. Alderman Mark Coplien has estimated the new position will save the city $350,000 to $700,000 over the next five years.
That remains to be seen.
As we said earlier, having a full-time city attorney on staff makes operational sense. Legal services on city matters more than merits full-time work, and an in-house employee should be less expensive.
But because of the workload present, expecting the next "administrator" to be more than a city attorney is a stretch. The position no longer requires a degree in public administration, or five years experience in municipal administration.
And there simply isn't likely to be time for the administrator to devote to budgeting, facilitating economic development efforts and running day-to-day operations at City Hall - common duties for an administrator that were included in the initial job description.
City leaders may be finding a way to save money at City Hall by hiring a full-time attorney. That's certainly not insignificant. But they once again appear to be missing an opportunity to settle leadership questions at City Hall. That's unfortunate, though certainly not surprising.
The Monroe Common Council's Salary and Personnel Committee on Wednesday narrowed a field of six candidates for the position to three finalists. State law requires the city to publicize the names of finalists, which committee members said they will do Monday after each has verified their continued interest in the job.
For now, all the public knows is that two finalists are from Wisconsin and one is from Minnesota. There was no word Wednesday whether the current city attorney, Rex Ewald, has applied or made the final cut.
Ewald, who works on retainer and has been the appointed city attorney for 21 years, said in late July he was "generally intrigued" by the job.
That the administrator position seemed to be revised to accommodate Ewald led to one of the two votes against the new job description, from Alderwoman Jan Lefevre.
That job description includes writing policies, ordinances, resolutions, contracts and agreements; and providing litigation, prosecution and other legal services for city matters. The position won't eliminate the need for employing outside legal help - traffic and juvenile court prosecution will not be part of the administrator's duties. The preliminary budget reduces the expenses for legal services from $114,300 this year to about $60,000 for 2010.
Filling the administrator position will cost the city about $103,000 in salary, benefits and office expenses. Alderman Mark Coplien has estimated the new position will save the city $350,000 to $700,000 over the next five years.
That remains to be seen.
As we said earlier, having a full-time city attorney on staff makes operational sense. Legal services on city matters more than merits full-time work, and an in-house employee should be less expensive.
But because of the workload present, expecting the next "administrator" to be more than a city attorney is a stretch. The position no longer requires a degree in public administration, or five years experience in municipal administration.
And there simply isn't likely to be time for the administrator to devote to budgeting, facilitating economic development efforts and running day-to-day operations at City Hall - common duties for an administrator that were included in the initial job description.
City leaders may be finding a way to save money at City Hall by hiring a full-time attorney. That's certainly not insignificant. But they once again appear to be missing an opportunity to settle leadership questions at City Hall. That's unfortunate, though certainly not surprising.
