RHINELANDER, WI (WSAU-WXPR) – The Rhinelander Common Council recently extended the contract of Zack Vruwink to assist the city in administrative duties until a replacement is hired. Vruwink will remain through the end of the year. Within that time frame, the city might not have a replacement in place.
Monday the city council acted to direct staff to begin putting together some details so the city can move forward with hiring a City Administrator.
City Attorney Steve Sorenson guesstimated it would cost the city $25,000 to do it by themselves. During the last search, a private firm was hired.
Sorenson said it could take a while to find the right person, perhaps three to four months. Having been part of similar searches elsewhere, Sorenson said it was important for the council to be clear what they want. “You have to define, as close as possible, to what you are looking for and what your priorities are. Don’t even start your search until you’ve got those hammered down. This isn’t baseball. You don’t go out and get the best athlete because the best athlete may not play very well in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.”
While the council bounced around some general ideas, Sorenson cautioned them against taking any action until the matter could be properly put on an agenda.
Mayor Chris Frederickson said he wanted to have some direction from the council, but says the ball is rolling. “Then as you do that, you look at the next actionable steps and we needed direction in that. Now we’ll bring forth the direction as we see it for an actionable item.”
After staff review, the matter will be on the next agenda.
In other action, the council approved Alder Carrie Mikalauski as council observer on the newly formed Ethics Board.
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