After a final round of interviews for the city administrator role, two candidates have risen to the top of the pool, one of them is currently in the role.
Interim administrator Kristina Handt received one vote from one council member as their top choice, and two votes as a council members’ second choice, making her in top contention despite having pulled her application with the city. The council pushed back their decision until a special council meeting this upcoming Monday, June 24 at 6:30 p.m. to give time for Handt to respond and to give the council time to consider the candidates more.
The other top vote-getter by the council was Joe Gaa, who resigned from his city manager position in Marshalltown, Iowa, in January and has worked in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and Dickinson, North Dakota. Four council members listed Gaa as their top choice.
Tariq Al-Rifai, the current city administrator and econoomic development director in Paynesville, did receive a vote as a second choice. (One council member did not provide a second choice.)
Six candidates participated in three interviews today: one with council members, one with the city staff’s department heads, and one with five community stakeholders.
The department heads indicated that Gaa was their choice and didn’t feel the need to offer a second choice because they felt so strongly about Gaa’s interviews.
The community stakeholders collectively decided that Al-Rifai was their first choice, and Gaa and Lindstrom-native Devin Swanberg, who currently works in Osceola, Wisconsin, were tied closely for second place, with a slight preference towards Gaa given his experience level.
Handt accepted the interim role in January after the council decided to fire former city administrator Patrick Casey. Handt had indicated early that she would be interested in the permanent position, and by early March, and special interview date was slated for Handt and the Forest Lake council. That special interview was ultimately canceled, as there had been some concerns that Handt and the y might not be on the same page as salary. Handt later pulled her application from consideration from what she said was it “wasn’t a good fit” for her.
But six months on the job has lead several council members to consider her for the role.
“To rule out someone who has been working here for six months, hit the ground running, has not just kept the lights on for the city, but has kept moving things forward, working out and having hard conversations on difficult situations, I think we would be foolish to not consider her as top two,” city council member Blake Roberts said.
That perspective was shared to Roberts, he said, by a number of members of the public.
Council member Leif Erickson was in agreement, saying “She’s been on the job, doing the work, and from that standpoint I’d advocate let her be a part of the conversation.”
Mayor Mara Bain had Handt as her number two, but she said that given the general consensus among department heads, council, and community stakeholders that Gaa was a good fit, she was reluctant to not move forward with Gaa.
“As I walked into this consideration, that overwhelming feedback for Joe. … [we’ve] identified that one person has risen up across the board. To me that speaks volumes. I’m open to considering Kristina if she’s interested. … but I’m not sure it changes my mind given the level of consensus I’ve seen,” Bain said.
But Bain also conceded that it was smart to weigh all the options the city has right now.
Council member Sam Husnik was the only person who opposed the consideration of Handt, citing her pulling out of the race.
“We just went through this whole process after she declared she pulled out, and now we’re going to go back? I don’t get it,” Husnik said.
A final decision is expected on at the Monday special meeting.
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