North Branch fills staff holes on short-term basis

North Branch City Council took steps to fill the holes left by recent departures of city staff in its meeting held Tuesday, June 25.

Among the moves completed by the council were the hiring of two “short-term” interim city administrators, and a move to have a search firm hunt for both an interim city administrator and interim economic development director.

“This is a very fluid process that we’re going through – the various transitions that we’re going through,” Mayor Kevin Schieber said before council moved to fill the positions.

One of the steps council took was to unanimously approve handing supervisory functions over the city’s department heads to council. This is similar to a move it made in December 2023 when Renae Fry stepped down as city administrator.

A report prepared by Schieber noted that he and Acting Mayor Robert Canada will be the initial points of contact for department heads through Dec. 31, or the date that a permanent city administrator is in place.

Council member Peter Schaps noted that he would like to be kept in the loop on all information presented by department heads.

Council then took steps to fill the city administrator position over the next few weeks following the resignation of interim city administrator Jason Ziemer at the end of June.

The idea was to promote a temporary administrator for roughly a month while WSB, a design and consulting firm based in Golden Valley, searches for an interim director.

Council unanimously voted to designate Finance Director Sharon Wright as acting city administrator and Chief of Police Dan Meyer as alternate acting city administrator.

“This temporary assignment is intended to last up to four weeks while the city council works expediently through the process of hiring a qualified candidate with previous experience as a city administrator,” Schieber said in reading from a prepared statement.

After he finished reading, Schieber said, “We have to have somebody to identify as the acting city administrator. [Wright and Meyer] have a lot on their plate, and they expressed some concerns. The idea is to not put the full weight on Sharon, who has a lot on her plate with the budget process, and Chief Meyer has a lot going on as well.

“The idea is to support each other.”

Schaps asked why City Clerk Ragini Varma, who was mentioned as a candidate for this role during a special meeting one week earlier, was not selected for this role.

“She had some reservations – she has a lot on her plate,” Schieber said of Varma, who also handles IT duties for the city while serving as clerk. “We have elections coming up, and we have a software initiative … so there’s a lot going on.”

Both Meyer and Wright expressed a willingness to do the job – at least for a short term.

“The fact that Dan and I are sharing [is important], and we have a good, solid team that we can ask for their input and expertise,” Wright said. “I wouldn’t want to do this for very long; as a stop-gap measure, I’m happy to help out.

“I’ll be happy when I can step down.”

Ziemer also resigned as the city’s economic development director, a position that includes handling zoning questions.

Council unanimously approved having WSB pick an individual to fill that role for two days per week to handle project reviews and zoning questions, as well as to attend staff and council meetings as necessary.

Schieber said the goal of this move is to minimize the disruption of city services.

“With all the building going on, smack-dab in the middle of summer, we need to take a minute to stay on that path as best we can,” he said.

Council member Kelly Neider agreed with the need, especially in the summer, and also favored working with WSB.

“We contracted with WSB in 2019, and they did a great job,” she said. “I have faith that WSB will do a good job for us during this transition.”

It will be a month-to-month contract through Dec. 31 of this year, with provisions to cancel with notice – presumably as soon as the position is filled on an interim or full-time basis. The consultant’s rate of pay will be $150 per hour, and the consultant will be in contact with North Branch GIS/Parks Director Nate Sondrol.

The council also discussed setting into motion a search for a permanent community development director.

“As we’re working through [everything], it is something we have to time correctly,” Schieber said. “We have to make sure we have a city administrator in place so they can be part of the planning process at least.”

Council unanimously voted to table discussion on this search until its July 16 meeting.

During the meeting, Schieber noted that in past weeks the council had talked about pursuing engineering services for the city.

“That’s still going to happen, but obviously we have a situation where we need to make some other moves as soon as possible,” he said. “When we get to the right point, we’ll revisit that.”

At the end of the meeting, Schieber thanked Ziemer for his service to the city.

“I saw dedication and professionalism in your work for the city,” Schieber said to Ziemer. “It was great to get to know you and work with you, and we wish you the best.”

Ziemer’s farewell comments focused on thanking everyone he worked with during his time working for North Branch.

“I just wanted to say thanks to the council and to the city for the past few years,” he said. “There’s a lot of exciting things going on, and I think there’s a promising future for the city as it continues to grow.

“I always viewed my task as helping the community achieve its goals and visions. I know I’m not going to get to the ‘end line,’ but I hoped I helped push things forward each day to help accomplish something.”

Fire hires

North Branch Fire Chief Pat Heinen spoke about the need to expand the number of firefighters on its rolls as well as fill several openings on the staff.

“We can have 28 firefighters, but right now we’re at 25, so we’re looking to return to that 28 mark,” he said. “And I would like to look forward and raise that number up the 30 because of the size of the city.”

He noted that the cost of calls covered by the fire department has risen from $170,000 four years ago to $204,000 last year, and already stands at $104,000 for this year.

Council unanimously approved the immediate search for three firefighters to boost the current total to 28. It also promised to look at potentially increasing the number of firefighters to 30 as it prepares the 2025 budget.