OSHKOSH – One month later and the city is yet to name a new chief administrative officer.
The Oshkosh Common Council, meanwhile, has appointed Director of Administrative Services John Fitzpatrick as interim city manager while continuing to deliberate a choice for Mark Rohloff’s eventual replacement.
Related:Retiring Oshkosh City Manager Mark Rohloff accepts job with Neenah’s McMahon Associates
City Council voted to approve Fitzpatrick, who also serves as assistant city manager, for the interim role during the Dec. 10 council meeting ahead of Rohloff’s last day in office Jan. 3.
“We have an assistant city manager in place, and while that role allows Mr. Fitzpatrick to temporarily assume the duties of city manager for brief absences, it’s best to administratively make sure there is an appointed interim city manager, whether it’s for a few days, couple weeks, a month,” said Mayor Matt Mugerauer.
“At this point, we don’t have a timeline, but it’s a good administrative function to make sure the leader is clearly assigned and defined.”
Fitzpatrick’s interim appointment comes a month after the city announced it whittled down the city manager candidates to four finalists.
According to Mugerauer, those four applicants were put through a series of round-robin interviews with city council, a city department head panel and a panel consisting of community members Nov. 19.
But council returned a week later at the Nov. 26 meeting to say no decision was made on the hiring of a new city manager.
Oshkosh has been searching for a new chief executive and administrative officer since July when Rohloff announced he would be retiring in January after spending 16 years as the city manager.
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The city conducted an extensive search before settling on the following four finalists:
- West Allis City Administrator/City Clerk Rebecca Grill;
- Mequon City Administrator William Jones;
- Casper, Wyoming, City Manager J Carter Napier; and
- Former Roanoke, Virginia, City Manager Robert Cowell.
Mugerauer didn’t reveal when a final decision would be announced.
The Dec. 10 meeting agenda allotted for two closed sessions for the council to consider “employment of any public employee over which the Common Council has jurisdiction and exercises responsibility.”
Contact Justin Marville at [email protected].
