City of Aberdeen once again considering hiring City Administrator

The City of Aberdeen may be moving forward with adding a City Administrator in the future after placing funding into the 2022 budget that would allow for it.

There was a back-and-forth discussion at the regular City Council meeting on Wednesday between the council and the Mayor regarding the pros and cons of adding funding for a City Administrator into the budget, with a number of councilmembers saying that the city was losing out by not having the position.

The talk from the council highlighted the need for someone to oversee projects and grant funding within the city, but many spoke regarding the expected cost of hiring another administrator.

Councilmember Alan Richrod spoke saying that the longer the conversation goes, the harder it will be to get someone hired.

This is not the first time this conversation has come up in budgeting, with action taken years ago during the Erik Larson administration. 

Mayor Schave was a councilmember at that time and spoke on that experience.

Following the discussion, the City Council voted 8-4 to amend the budget and add $250,000 for a City Administrator position, with no timeline set as to when someone would be hired.

After the amendment, the 2022 City of Aberdeen budget passed by a vote of 11-1.