Interim city administrator Kristina Handt reaffirms her desire not to pursue permanent role
Forest Lake’s city administrator search continues after the city council declined to move forward with the council’s top choice of Joe Gaa after interim city administrator Kristina Handt reaffirmed her desire to not pursue the permanent role. Handt was listed by three council members as either a first or second choice for the role during a special meeting shortly after interviews concluded on Thursday, despite having pulled her application from consideration.
A total of six candidates interviewed for the position on Thursday, June 20, in a three-part interview: one with the city council, one with the city’s department heads, and one with five community members that made up a community stakeholder panel.
Though the council instructed search firm DDA HR, which the city contracted for the search, not to notify the other five candidates they were officially out of contention after Thursday’s interviews, Gaa was the only of the six candidates that the council seemed interested in after last Thursday’s interviews besides Handt. (Lindstrom-native Devin Swanberg pulled his application from consideration after Thursday.) Tariq Al-Rifai, the current city administrator and econoomic development director in Paynesville, did receive a single vote as a second choice by a council member.
Gaa, who lead the cities of Aberdeen, South Dakota from June of 2020 to August of 2023 and Dickinson, North Dakota from November of 2018 to 2020 after two similar roles over eight years in Iowa cities, received five votes by the council as first choice, as well as being the only choice recommended by the city’s department heads, and was recommended as the second choice by the community stakeholder panel.
But during a special meeting on Monday, June 24, council member Blake Roberts expressed his serious concern over Gaa (though he named Gaa as his second choice behind Handt at the Thursday, June 20 special meeting), citing Gaa’s most recent four-month employment in Marshalltown, Iowa, and what mayor Mara Bain called the “lack of cross-pollination” of information that comes with an out-of-state candidate.
“I appreciate that we have a candidate that rose to the top and has consensus, and has a track record of some great accomplishments in some past cities. My concern is I feel because of the cities where he has served, I don’t have a great amount of familiarity with those communities,” Bain said.
Roberts indicated he had spent time doing more background checking, and though he wouldn’t give specifics in the meeting, did cite their negative responses as his reasoning he would not be voting for Gaa to become city administrator.
“Sorry, we were bitten hard… and we really need to make sure this is the right person,” Roberts said citing previous administrator Patrick Casey. He recommended pausing the search.
“We cannot fill the seat just to fill the seat,” he said.
But council member Hanna Valento said she was concerned Forest Lake would face a number of issues if the city didn’t move forward with Gaa: first, that the city could be caught without an administrator at the helm if Handt accepted another position, and second, a concern that not moving forward would not only put working in Forest Lake in a negative light, but a second search wouldn’t bear better candidates.
“We want to get it right, but also at what cost are we going to sit here and be concerned about the candidates?” she asked, later adding about pausing the search: “What kind of pool will we get then? I wouldn’t be optimistic it wouldn’t be a better pool.”
Bain’s concerns were over a lack of enough information surrounding Gaa’s previous work history – especially in Marshalltown – and minimal background check provided. She cited those as reasons she wants to pursue more information via a more thorough background check and second interview, something she did note was “unconventional.”
“Because it’s the last person standing, I’m not certain that’s the threshold that I’m 100% comfortable he’s the right person for the job. He might be,” she said, but felt she needed more information to make the decision, later adding: “It’s not necessarily a ‘no, never.’ It’s a ‘I’d like just a little additional information.’”
The council agreed on asking for more information.
It’s unknown if that will occur, as DDA had previously stated it was close to pulling out of the search due to prior pivots when the city wanted to pursue an interview process with Handt through DDA before the search went broader. This could be considered a pivot that DDA may not be comfortable with.
The council did also consider a second round of interviews should that further background check and second interview with Gaa not work out.
Bain did note Anoka County’s search for its next county administrator, which also contracted DDA for its search. The first round didn’t provide candidates the county was comfortable with, and asked for a secondary search. She did say that second search provided better candidates, and suggested a secondary search for Forest Lake could bear out better candidates.
City council member Blake Roberts offered a lengthy address expressing his frustration over the search firm DDA, which the council contracted to run the search, saying he “greatly regrets” naming six finalists after the council had jointly expressed concern over the quality of candidates in the semi-finalist pool.
Council member Leif Erickson agreed with Roberts and expressed his frustration with DDA, citing the company’s “unwillingness to work with [Bain] to make sure we’re getting the right pool of candidates.”
“I thought it was telling that four of us can only come up with one candidate from that pool, and that doesn’t mean that’s the right person for Forest Lake,” Erickson said.
A tentative special meeting to continue the city administrator search is scheduled for Monday, July 1.
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