Medford city clerk steps into administrator role

In a flurry of activity, the Medford City Council used a special meeting to make a number of changes – including hiring a new city administrator.

Elizabeth Jackson is new to the role but not to the city. She’s been the Medford City Clerk for nearly seven years and had expressed interest in the administrator position.

The promotion came with the recommendation of Jed Petersen, who resigned on June 7. He has accepted a job with the city of Cannon Falls.

Petersen’s position, created in 2021, was a hybrid role called the administrative director of operations: part city administrator, part public works director. He drew the ire of city council members this spring when he failed the Class B wastewater operator exam for the second time.

Because the city has a wastewater treatment facility, the certification was a necessity; the fact that the facility is failing made it even more crucial. Petersen’s inability to obtain the certificate meant the city had to pay an independent contract operator $1,750 per month to be on standby.

Despite council members’ belief to the contrary, however, that certification was never a part of Petersen’s formalized job description.

Now, however, it’s about to be a moot point, thanks to funding from the Minnesota Legislature that will allow Medford to partner with Owatonna on a shared regional wastewater treatment plan.

“Once we’re connected to Owatonna and (our) plant is decommissioned, then you don’t need the Class B license to run (a Medford) plant,” Jackson said.

“All the changes the city has made are absolutely in the best interest of the city, and the perfect timing,” she said, “especially with that bonding bill going through the connection to Owatonna going forward.”

James Krogh, a public works employee for the city, was made a public works “lead” upon Petersen’s resignation. A part-time water contractor was hired for up to four hours weekly to oversee the operations of the Medford plant and train staff until the two facilities are connected.

Jackson’s position is also a hybrid: city administrator/clerk.

“I’ll be keeping quite a few of my clerk duties,” she said, as well as working on a job description to hire a parttime office assistant.

For many years, Jackson said, there was neither a city clerk nor a city administrator, so the reorganization is a move back to something familiar.

“With that waste plant connection, you just don’t need two fulltime people in this office anymore,” she said. “The council agreed with me on that recommendation, and this is where we are.”

Jackson believes her institutional knowledge of the city and its workings will benefit both the council and the residents.

Though she’s “never been the boss before, making the decisions for the day-to-day stuff,” her first day on the job was the kickoff of Straight River Days, the town’s annual celebration – and things went well.

In the two weeks since, “all of my interactions with (Mayor Danny Thomas) and the city council have been absolutely wonderful,” Jackson said. “I have full support from all of them, and the working relationship is probably the best it’s ever been.”

A Kenyon native, Jackson said she’s “extremely grateful for the opportunity. I’m excited to really help this city thrive … to help them through all of the projects we have coming up, to watch it all unfold – and to be a part of it.”

The impact of the changes in staffing will account for about $53,000 worth of savings in total benefits and payroll.

In other business at the June 14 special meeting:

• The City Council approved promoting Angela Bohlman to lead bartender at the Medford Municipal Liquor Store, which continues to grow its business. The city is also expected to hire two or three more part-time or on-call bartenders.
• Council members gave final approval to a new LED sign that will be placed at the corner of North Main Street and Central Avenue. The approval came after the council rejected the project at the May meeting.

“Some of them went back out and looked at where it was going to be, and they changed their minds and we went forward with it,” Jackson said. “They actually had a visual (representation) of exactly where it was going to go and what it was going to look like, and that changed it.”

The 3-feet-by-6-feet sign will cost nearly $21,000, covered entirely by the Medford EDA (Economic Development Authority).

The hope is to have the sign installed yet this summer.