City council chooses two manager finalists
From the WCLO newsroom:
Janesville's City Council likes what it sees during the current round of city manager interviews.
Council President Amy Loasching says 36-year-old Ken Witt of Sparta, Wisconsin and 40-year-old Eric Levitt of Sedona, Arizona are being called back for second interviews.
Each candidate will meet Wednesday with city staff, then city staff will go into closed session with the council to share their views. After meeting with city staff the council will call Levitt and Witt back for second interviews and later deliberate on the next move.
Loasching says the council could extend a job offer, decide to visit the finalists' hometowns to get a feel for their experience, or go back to the drawing board.
This is the second round of city manager interviews to replace Steve Sheiffer, who retired from the post after 21 years on September 5.
Click here for an audio report
Sep 17, 2008 at 12:46 p.m.
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Janesvillean:
They don't clone city managers. They may well play musical chairs with the odd one out retiring but the city doesn't retire with him, therefore someone who has never been a city manager before will be soon somewhere and will no doubt rise from the ranks of assistant city managers. Don't you think that one of these may be here in Janesville? Are we required to hire one that is good at musical chairs? Wouldn’t an assistant manager in a city of 60,000 have at least as much experience as a manager of a city of less than 10,000?
Sep 17, 2008 at 12:41 p.m.
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Does anyone know the salary they plan to
pay the City manager?
Sep 17, 2008 at 12:04 p.m.
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They should just make Jay Winzenz permanent city manager.
Sep 17, 2008 at 11:43 a.m.
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billnewbie, how many cities are there to manage in Janesville? Last I heard there was only one. I agree with you about indecisiveness, though.
Sep 17, 2008 at 11:31 a.m.
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experience lol
Sep 17, 2008 at 11:25 a.m.
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Why are these the finalists? Apparently because absolutely no one in Janesville has such stellar qualifications and these are the best our consultants can find. Since the last batch of candidates was a total washout, there may be some pressure on the council to make a decision. There would be some well earned criticism if no one from this batch is chosen, but I hope that the council can see that it would be better to be criticized for indecisiveness that to choose poorly.
Sep 17, 2008 at 11:01 a.m.
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Finalist #1 Eric Levitt City Manager in Sedona, AZ, a tourism town of 17,000 with little manufacturing, no growth issues and mired in a streetlamp argument for about a year.
Finalist #2 Ken Witt - City Administrator of Sparta, population 9,600, spent the last 2 years trying to get a ethanol plant built in the middle of town in proximity to schools, Sparta Municipal Golf Course and Sparta Memorial Park. Town citizens formed Friends of Sparta to stop it. And the town's largest employer, a dairy operation that would have been subject to the ethanol processing fumes, threatened to pull up and take their 350 jobs if the plant was built. Now it seems the plant itsn't being built.
Why are these two our finalists ?
Sep 17, 2008 at 8:37 a.m.
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Sedona, Arizona is one of the most beautiful areas in the SW U.S. Watch for the excuse to visit boondoggle.
Sep 17, 2008 at 8:18 a.m.
Sep 17, 2008 at 8:12 a.m.
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