Council hires Levitt
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Eric Levitt of Sedona, AZ interviews with the citizen panel for the Janesville city manager position.
JANESVILLE — Eric Levitt will start as Janesville’s new city manager Tuesday, Dec. 16.
He replaces Steve Sheiffer, who recently retired after 21 years.
This week, a delegation of council members and a resident traveled to Sedona, Ariz., where Levitt is city manager.
Delegation members are “completely satisfied with what we’ve found out here in Sedona,” said Amy Loasching, council president.
The Janesville Gazette interviewed Loasching by telephone as the delegation headed to the airport late this morning. The group will return tonight.
“I am very excited to be able to waive the contingency (the site visit) and offer Eric Levitt the position of new city manager,” Loasching said.
She expects that Levitt will sign the contract at City Hall in Janesville on Thursday morning. Levitt and his family are traveling to Janesville to look at houses and schools.
“Everyone here in the delegation is very excited,” Loasching said.
Other members include council Vice President Bill Truman, councilman Tom McDonald and community member Mary Willmer-Sheedy.
“We learned lots of interesting facts about Mr. Levitt,” Loasching said.
The delegation conducted scheduled and random interviews and couldn’t find anyone who didn’t like Levitt.
“Councilmember Tom McDonald made it his mission to try to find someone who didn’t like Mr. Levitt,” Loasching said. “We didn’t find anyone who could honestly say they didn’t like the man.”
Loasching said Sedona residents told the delegation that Levitt makes things happen; that he is flexible and strategic; that he reacts well to challenges; that he is detailed, shares ideas and is open to new ideas; and that he is always searching to do better.
“We think he’ll be a great fit for Janesville,” Loasching said.
Willmer-Sheedy, market president at M&I Bank, was a member of a community panel that interviewed city manager candidates, and she accompanied the delegation at her own expense.
The interviews with community members “exceeded my expectations as far as his working relationships with everyone in the community,” Willmer-Sheedy said.
The delegation heard positive comments from residents, who cited examples of both city and nonprofit projects that Levitt worked on, Willmer-Sheedy said.
“He has great leadership and will be a wonderful addition to the community,” Willmer-Sheedy said. “His whole family will be.”
The council will vote to ratify Levitt’s contract in open session Monday, Oct. 13.
Levitt’s salary will not be disclosed until then, although the council advertised it as being in the range of $140,000.
Levitt must give 60 days notice in Sedona. Levitt plans to move his family here to be ready to start at City Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 16, Loasching said.
Loasching said she is excited and hopeful about the new city manager.
“I’m just really looking forward to Mr. Levitt coming into Janesville and helping us move Janesville forward,” she said.
Oct 2, 2008 at 8:45 a.m.
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Sarah Palin was practicing her debate at Jonn McCains retreat in Sedona this week.
Oct 1, 2008 at 7:03 p.m.
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Correct, Zoom. Although the Mayor is elected separately, he is still part-time and primarily leads the council. Although he seems to have more power than Loasching and certainly more expectation of setting policy and agenda, the crucial point is that the city manager is the position with hire-and-fire authority and budgetary responsibility.
Oct 1, 2008 at 4:22 p.m.
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cottonjoe - Sedona uses the same Council-Manager form of government as we do, as apposed to the Mayor-Alderman form. Many cities call their Council Presidents by the title Mayor, but they have no more power than our Council President Amy Loasching.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council-man...
Oct 1, 2008 at 4:12 p.m.
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Good luck, Mr. Levitt. I have faith in the process and the city council, but let's hope they made the right decision. I went on the Sedona, AZ website today and noticed that while Mr. Levitt is indeed the city manager there, Sedona runs under a mayoral form of government. So, while he'll carry the same title here, it's clearly not the same job. Admittedly, I didn't follow his selection all that close, but I don't recall seeing that distinction ever made. Perhaps I'm wrong, and it was all made very public, but let's be clear on what we're getting. And while this certainly doesn't disqualify him from anything, this change for him is anything but lateral. Being "the man" is very much different than just working for him. Janesville, and Rock County, will be watching.
Oct 1, 2008 at 4:10 p.m.
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Wow, someone got up on the grumpy side of the bed this morning. Yes, RoadKing, it's a vast conspiracy by the citizens of Sedona to get rid of their manager. They even managed to fool the Gazette reporters who also talked to people there.
/end sarcasm
Oct 1, 2008 at 3:37 p.m.
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Congratulations and welcome, Mr. Levitt! Don't worry about the grumblers, they're harmless.
Oct 1, 2008 at 2:42 p.m.
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What do they expect? Why would anyone be truthful about their feelings if they wanted to get rid of someone? The council member asks a couple of people about this guy and assume he's God's gift to Janesville? Oh wait a minute, I forgot that a handful of people are actually the majority around here - maybe it's the same for Sedona. Read the papers council members - there's also something called the internet you could have used to see this was a bad choice. By the way, what reasoning could you have had for making this choice - Someone told you he was a great guy? I would think that putting something in the job requirements like "Has not run the city he works for into the ground" would be a step in the right direction.
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