Six finalists remain in running for New Richmond post

Talk about it

Six finalists have been selected as possible candidates for the city administrator and utilities manager position in the City of New Richmond.

"I think the entire City Council is excited about the quality and depth of experience of the candidates that we have to choose from," said Mayor Fred Horne on Friday, when the finalist names were released. "Looking at the top 10 candidates that were presented to the Council, there was a very close tabulation for the top six candidates so we decided to interview six instead of five as the consultant had wanted."

Two of the candidates are local individuals, while four will be coming to interview from outside the immediate region.

-- Peter Kling, interim director of the St. Croix County Planning and Zoning Department and longtime agent with the University of Wisconsin Extension office in Baldwin. He and his family live in New Richmond.

-- Dan Koski, current city engineer, street superintendent and Stormwater Utility manager for the City of New Richmond. He and his family live in rural New Richmond. Koski joined the city staff in 2007.

-- Adam Hammatt, former Village Administrator for Suamico, Wis., a community of more than 11,000 just north of Green Bay.

-- Mike Darrow, currrent city administrator and utility manager for Gilbert, Minn., a community of about 1,800 people on the Iron Range of northern Minnesota.

-- Jim Ferneau, city administrator for Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, a community of about 3,300 in western Iowa. (Ferneau has since withdrawn from the process as he accepted a new position elsewhere.)

-- Brian Wagner, city manager for Maquoketa, Iowa, a community of about 6,100 in eastern Iowa.

New Richmond had about 50 applicants for its soon-to-be-open city administrator and utilities manager position.

Dennis Horner is poised to retire after more than 27 years in that top city position.

The city’s executive search consultant, Richard Fursman with Brimeyer Fursman, whittled the number of potential candidates to about 16 and completed the initial screening and interviews. On Monday, Feb. 13, the consultant brought the names of 10 finalists to the New Richmond City Council for review.

According to Mayor Fred Horne, the list of finalists was cut to six on Monday night. The candidates were contacted after that to see if they wanted to be part of the interview process.

The finalists will now come to New Richmond March 2-3 for a tour and an interview.

A public open house to interact with the finalists is set for 5 p.m. Friday, March 2, at Lola’s Restaurant. Everyone is invited to attend and interact with the various candidates.

Tags: local government, new richmond, news, wisconsin