BP Council gives formal nod to new administrator
The City of Blooming Prairie officially has a new city administrator.
Members of the city council on Monday approved the employment agreement offered to Melanie Aeschliman.
According to Interim City Administrator Terri Zwiener, the Employment Replacement Committee chose Aeschliman after interviewing four candidates.
City staff members and the public were also given the opportunity to meet and speak with the candidates; those two groups also “overwhelmingly chose Melanie,” Zwiener said.
Aeschliman has 10 years of experience in state, county and local government in the areas of assessing, planning, zoning and economic development.
She currently works for the state of North Dakota as a state supervisor of assessments in the office of the tax commissioner.
Aeschliman is expected to take the reins June 19, but “may be willing to do some Zoom” meetings before then, Zwiener said.
In other business, council members authorized City Attorney Jason Iacovino to approve a settlement with former Blooming Prairie Police Sgt. Mark Lang.
Lang is suing for outgoing payment of benefits to the Public Employee Retirement Association after his termination “in good standing” by the city a year ago.
He was hired as an officer in 1999.
The termination was “due to his inability to physically perform his duties as required to be employed as a sergeant for the Blooming Prairie Police Department… not due to any sort of lack of performance, misconduct, or disciplinary reasons.”
Lang’s case was set for a hearing Thursday, prompting Iacovino’s recommendation to settle the issue.
“As things are coming to a head, the city would incur substantial legal expenses,” he said.
The city hired an attorney to represent its interest in the administrative law procedure, which is outside Iacovino’s scope of practice.
“The bottom line is … this is a money thing. This is a math thing,” he said. “The number that we’ve agreed to, tentatively, is $20,000. If you didn’t approve that settlement, we’d spend at least that much in legal fees and expert witness fees to go through the hearing.”
The outside attorney believes the city has a “very good case,” Iacovino said, “but the reality is, that money would be spent anyway. If (the city) was successful, the former employee could appeal, which adds” to the cost of defending the case.
If the city were unsuccessful, he said, “the potential exposure to the city far exceeds the number we’re talking about. I look at this from no other perspective than what’s in the city’s best interest financially.”