Search is on for BP administrator

The Blooming Prairie City Council last week accepted the resignation of City Administrator Melanie Aeschliman – then immediately began the work to find her successor.

“Mayor and Council, it was just an honor and pleasure to have worked and served alongside of you,” she said at the March 10 meeting. “It was a tough decision, but I have to give it a go.”

Her new role as Freeborn County’s administrator begins March 24.

After a unanimous vote on the resignation, the councilors heard from Mike Humpal, manager of local government solutions for South Central Service Cooperative in Mankato.

“We assisted the city about two years back to hire its new city administrator,” he said, referring to Aeschliman, “and we’re happy to do that again for you.”

While an anticipated start date for the new hire is late July or early August, there is plenty of work that will go on in the interim, Humpal said.

The job posting will be published nationally, regionally, state- and area-wide on March 28 and will be advertised for 30 days.

Members of the council were asked to fill out a questionnaire about personal characteristics they’d like to see in the new administrator, as well as any desired technical and management skills. That information will go into the job description.

After a final application review April 29 to May 2, the pool of candidates will be narrowed to six or seven. That group will be interviewed by Humpal and an SCSC colleague who assesses leadership and management.

By the end of May, council members will receive information about the top four candidates chosen by SCSC, including references and background checks.

“We’ll bring you four or five candidates to interview,” Humpal said. “All of them will have the qualifications to do the job; your job is to decide” who will best fit the city’s needs.

“By the time they’re in front of you, they’re well-vetted, and we’re assuring you they can do the job,” he said.

There will be two days of interviews with the finalists the week of June 16.

The first day is for other city employees and residents to meet the candidates.

The city employees will be seated at tables around the council chambers, “then we’ll do what I call ‘speed-date’ those candidates through the employees, so they get an opportunity to meet,” Humpal said.

The city staff will then have time to deliberate among themselves and provide input to Humpal while the candidates go on a tour of the community.

That afternoon, a meet and greet for the public will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., also in council chambers.

“It includes the community in the process,” Humpal said, “and gives you an opportunity to see how the candidates work in a room of people.”

It also “puts everybody a little more at ease” for the second day, when the candidates will interview with members of the city council.

Following the interviews, “we’ll convene to talk about the candidates and if there is an offer to be made,” Humpal said.

Within three days, “I will make the offer on the city’s behalf and at your direction, then begin the negotiation process,” he said.

Using 2023 data released in 2024, Humpal provided salary information for Minnesota cities similar in size to Blooming Prairie.

The average annual salary of a city administrator in towns with 2,000-3,000 residents is $108,368. The average salary of a city administrator in towns with a population of 1,000-2,000 is $87,193.

“That (information) is a couple years old, so there’s probably a 3% cost of living increase in most of this,” he said. “Based on that, and based on salary ranges elsewhere, my suggestion is we advertise the position between $91,588 and $120,000.

“The goal is to attract as many candidates as we can,” Humpal said.

The numbers are not binding, and negotiations are to be expected, he said.

The top number didn’t sit well with council member Greg Johnson; Humpal’s original range was $91,588 to $115,888, before he bumped it to an even $120,000.

Johnson was focused on the 3% COLA hike and asked what that would do to the salary range.

A quick refiguring shifted the original range from $94,335 to $119,364, which Johnson put into a motion as the proposed salary.

After the presentation and salary range approval, Humpal said he “would be remiss if I didn’t tell you that our contract with you two years ago was if your candidate didn’t last through the first two years, we’d do the next search for free.

“We’re here and happy to do that,” he said. “Saving you some money for that extra 3%.”

Interim administrator

Members of the council then approved the appointment of city Finance Director Terri Zwiener as interim city administrator.

“I believe she did a really great job for you last time, and she’s willing to do it this time,” Aeschliman said.

Zwiener will be allowed to carry over up to 40 additional hours of vacation time at the end of the year or to be paid out for the unused time.

“We have a lot of irons in the fire,” Aeschliman said, including the U.S. Highway 218 contamination–specifically, the need for a consultant to assist with legislative matters.

“We’re still kind of in discussion about that, and looking for some options,” she said. “We’d be looking at setting a dollar amount for the consultant … we definitely don’t want the 218 project to die. We’ve got two bills (at the State Legislature), and work going on with (U.S. Rep. Brad) Finstad’s office at the federal level.”

The council approved a budget not to exceed $20,000 for the consultant.

“We’ll start there,” Aeschliman said, “and hopefully we don’t have to use it.”