LITTLE GEMS
Personnel issues continue in the city.
May was a busy month for the personnel committee members as special personnel meetings were scheduled to be ready to fill positions before the busy summer season was in full swing. With three major positions needing to be filled, the personnel committee is working on job descriptions and ordinances in preparation for the hiring process. Lake Geneva City Administrator David Nord has resigned and is leaving in July. Last week, at a special personnel meeting, the committee reviewed the current city administrator job description as well as the related city ordinance regarding that position.
The general discussion included concerns with the level of education and prior experience in a Wisconsin municipality for the position. The committee also would like to see the job description integrated into an annual evaluation document. The city administrator is an important role, as almost all city happenings go through this position and city officials depend on the city administrator’s thoughts on issues and to know the ins and outs of the ordinances and guidelines that need to be followed.
Steve Russell, the current City of Lake Geneva Harbor Master, is leaving in July. The harbor master job description and related ordinances were reviewed. Concerns with the current wording of job duties and chain of command were discussed. Currently, the Harbor Master is under the Public Works and Street Superintendent and the committee would like the position to work directly under the city administrator. The current wording of job duties needs some work according to some personnel committee members. The current description states harbor master should do weekly checks on piers and buoys and committee members feel this needs to be changed to daily monitoring.
Yet another major position that needs to be filled is less talked about. The Lake Geneva Parking Manager position is not filled. Seth Elder has recently left or was let go of his parking manager position. The position was temporarily filled in-house and seems to be running smoothly. The position, however, has not had much discussion in personnel meetings. The little discussion regarding this position included the possibility of merging the harbor master and parking manager positions. This raised a few eyebrows and received a few eye rolls.
At one of the special meetings, the discussion was a comparison of the Lake Geneva City Administrator job description versus a few other municipalities’ city administrator job descriptions. The comparisons were meant as a guideline and tool to get the job done. June started with another personnel meeting last Monday evening. Discussion not only focused on positions to be filled but also on the workings and duties of the personnel committee. A lot of work needs to be done in this department in Lake Geneva and the current committee seems to be up to the job. Does anybody know, for example, just how much Pritzker has spent rebuilding the old tile system set underground for the entire thousand acres of land to make sure the health of the growth there remains what it has been? That’s hundreds of thousands of dollars.
PERSON OF THE WEEK
Butch is the fantastic and friendly manager that keeps Inspired running so smoothly.
