JANESVILLE —The city council approved advertising the city manager position at a pay range of $240,000 to $275,000 which is around the same range of the previous manager with his base salary being $253,000.
The City of Janesville hired Innovative Public Advisors (IPA) of West Bend as the consultant to help with the process of finding the next city manager.
Using salary data from comparable Wisconsin communities, IPA partner Jess Wildes recommended a salary range of $240,000 to $275,000 for Janesville’s next city manager. The recommendation was based on salaries paid to administrators in communities such as Eau Claire at $216,000, Oshkosh at $225,000, Wauwatosa at $234,000 Sun Prairie at $245,000 and Beloit at $196,000, as well as Janesville’s current city manager salary of $253,000.
The firm also looked at other administrators in the area. The Janesville School District Superintendent has a salary of $226,500 and the Rock County Administrator has a salary of $173,000.
Wildes said the proposed range would allow the city to remain competitive in recruiting a strong candidate while recognizing Janesville’s status as one of Wisconsin’s larger municipalities.
A timeline was also laid out that the position could be posted as early as this week. By July 27, the council would have a closed session review of applicants. On Aug. 4, the city council would then have initial interviews, and a week later they would have final interviews. The proposed appointment schedule would be Aug. 24.
Council Vice President Micheal Cass asked if they could have a meet and greet for the public to meet with the candidates for city manager.
Wildes said that she would be able to put that into the planning process.
On April 27, the same day City Manager Kevin Lahner announced he was resigning from his position as manager, the deputy city manager position, occupied by Ryan McCue, was eliminated as part of “organizational restructuring.” At that council meeting his nameplate no longer sat at the dais and he was seen in the crowd.
The City has not given a reason for the elimination of that position. In the packet the consultants presented Monday, they said an opportunity for the next manager was “evaluating and advancing the City’s leadership structure,” including the hiring of a deputy city manager.
“This key position enhances organizational capacity, supports strategic initiatives, strengthens succession planning, and allows the City Manager to maintain a greater focus on community and operational leadership, external partnerships, and long-range priorities,” it said in the document.
Council member Josh Erdman asked if they could reword the description to give the next manager a chance to structure their own leadership team rather than be forced into the same format the previous manager had.
Interim City Manager Jay Shambeau said that anyone applying for the position will have done research on the city and will know about the structure. He feels that a city this size — with the amount of economic development in the pipeline — it “absolutely needs” this position.
“Our organization needs this role,” he said. “I have been here four weeks, right now, and there’s a lot going on. It’s a great organization. There’s a lot to do.”
President Larry Squire decided that maybe it should say a “complementary role” so it doesn’t turn away any potential candidates from applying.
One aspect of management stressed in the position description is that the city manager must be an “exceptional communicator” who thrives on bringing people together around “common goals.”
That may refer obliquely to one public critique of former city hall leadership: Some residents said Lahner operated with a unilateral decisionmaking approach, seeking his own agenda on sizable city policy — particularly with the future of the GM/JATCO site.
