New Columbus administrator hopes to put residents first

Community Editor

Columbus’ new city administrator, Jack Davis, joined the city this year after being a stone’s throw away for almost two decades as East Bethel’s administrator.

If East Bethel was facing a problem, he’d call Columbus administration to see how they were handling a similar issue to better understand his plan of attack.

“It was always one that I tried to reach out to other admins if I had a problem to see how they were handling it,” Davis said.

It felt like a natural step to look toward Columbus when the East Bethel City Council decided to let go of Davis at the end of last year after serving as administrator since 2011.

“I have views that most people have around here, and that’s to try to preserve the rural nature and character of the majority of Columbus, yet try to take opportunities to develop the freeway corridor area,” Davis said.

At the start of the year he began serving as the interim administrator for Columbus when longtime administrator Elizabeth Mursko departed. It felt almost business as usual when the council approved him for the permanent role on Wednesday, May 22.

“I think the transition was just dropping a little word in the title. Nothing else changed except they pile some work on you,” Davis said.

Throughout his years as East Bethel administrator and East Bethel public works director before that, Davis had worked with Columbus on the Sunrise River Watershed Management Organization. When he got the opportunity to take on the interim role at the start of this year, he took the leap to joining the team neighboring his former employer.

“I wasn’t ready to ride off into the sunset yet,” Davis said.

For a city like Columbus, which was operated by one city administrator for a long time, Davis knows there are a lot of solid processes in place but feels he will be able to bring fresh eyes and give a renewed sense of interest to residents.

“You know, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ There’s a lot of good things going on here,” Davis said.

Something he has already brought to the city is a new way of forecasting and summarizing budgets with online software to make information more accessible for anyone in Columbus.

“It makes it so much easier to understand and communicate. The budget is not rocket science, but sometimes the way it’s presented can be very complicated and confusing,” Davis said.

He is excited to work alongside a staff and council who supports some of the same goals he has in mind of helping Columbus develop its freeway corridor while preserving natural spaces.

“I’m here with a good group. I think Columbus City Council has a great vision for the city and they also have a commitment to fulfilling that vision,” Davis said.

When Davis made the jump from public works for five years at East Bethel to city administration, it wasn’t that steep of a learning curve.

“I came into the city administrator’s position knowing all the geography of the city, and the culture and the dynamics and all the relationships, so it was just a matter of having to adopt a few things,” Davis said.

He joined East Bethel administration after serving as administrator in Prescott, Wisconsin, for a few years. Prior to that he spent more than 30 years as a public works director for Cumberland Plateau PDC.

As the new head of staff in Columbus, he wants the city hall to be viewed as an open environment for residents to come talk with staff about any issues they have related to anything.

“I’m open and always accessible. I think that’s a key component to this job,” Davis said.

It’s important to him to ensure residents feel heard and seen by city staff and, by extension, council. While the city offices are open Monday through Friday during normal business hours, he hopes to work with area residents in order to ensure they have time to ask questions or raise concerns.

“If somebody can’t come in here during those hours, let us know what time you can be here, we’ll have somebody set up to come meet you,” Davis said.

He prides himself on being an open individual who wants to help resolve issues that arise for any resident.

“We just want to take care of our residents,” he said.