The search is on to find a replacement for Rhinelander's city administrator.
Monday evening, the council approved the hiring of a firm to do the search.
Interim administrator Keith Kost said there's two firms that generally do public administrator services in Wisconsin. One is a firm that the city has used in prior searches, Public Administrator Associates, LLC and GOV HR.
Kost recommended the second firm...
".....it's my recommendation that we go with GOV HR. They are more expensive. They have done a lot of placement in Wausau. I spoke to the HR people in Wausau. They found (GOV HR) was a very positive experience. They also found their estimates for advertising and expenses were both high, so that will bring that cost down...."
Public Administration Associates bid was about $9,300 dollars, GOV HR about$19,000. The council went along with Kost's recommendation.
Kost's contract with the city will run to June.
Kost has held the city administrator’s position on an interim part-time basis since February, 2016. Prior to Kost’s hiring, the city had been without an administrator for more than five months after council members voted in 2016 to terminate the contract of the city’s last full-time administrator, Kristina Aschenbrenner. Aschenbrenner replaced Blaine Oborn who left for a job in Lake Geneva in 2015. Prior to Oborn, Bill Bell was the city administrator until 2011 when he took a job in Colorado.
