Council approves pay, job description for new administrative post

McCOOK, Neb. — By a unanimous vote, the McCook City Council approved Monday night the job description for an assistant city manager and associated pay grade, although the council also wants to change the name of the position.

The council first approved the new position in September for this year’s budget with a pay range of $62,843 to $89,700. At the time, there was discussion on what the position would be called, said McCook City Manager Nate Schneider, but “call it what you want, maybe it’s an administrative officer, but there’s a lot of things this person can do,” he said.

Schneider said the new position would be delegated work from three departments: the city manager, the city clerk and the public works director. The structure of the city is unique as many cities have a finance director or treasurer to assist in budget preparation but in McCook, that falls to the city clerk, he said. He cited the workload of the city clerk and public works department that includes budget preparation, keeping up with airport regulations — “We’re still trying to figure out the drone policy mandate,” he said — tax increment financing and state policies. “I’ll do whatever but I’m spread pretty thin,” he said. In addition to being city manager, Schneider is also an attorney at the local law firm, Mousel, Brooks, Garner and Schneider.

Schneider said before this new position is filled, he wanted to make sure other positions approved in the budget were filled, such as two police officers, two in the water department, a public works employee and the 911 Coordinator.

Councilman Jerry Calvin said city staff was overworked, had too many irons in the fire and the new position would make things more efficient. Calvin said the name of the position should be changed as “it’s not assistant city manager,” he said, adding that he regretted using that word choice when first suggesting the job.

As for the job description being definitive at this point, “A lot of stuff is dumped on you and it can still be tweaked,” he said.

Councilman Jared Muehlenkamp agreed that the name of the position is “a point of contention,” Mayor Mike Gonzales said the title was misleading and Councilman Gene Weedin suggested using assistant city administrator instead.

Councilman Darcy Rambali asked if the salary was comparable to other positions in the state and Schneider said it was, according to the recently completed wage study.

Mayor Gonzales asked if the position would include serving as a liaison for boards inside and outside the city and Schneider said it would be a combination of both. Attending committee and board meetings does pull him away a lot, he said, although the most important thing Schneider said he does is manage employees. As the city has 80 employees, including negotiating the union contract with the fire department, it can get time-consuming, he said. In addition, there is the pool, ballpark, and annexation work that takes time, he said. “I’m not complaining…but it can be difficult to balance,” he said.

Councilman Calvin asked if there was a target date to hire for this position and Schneider said when the position was first discussed when the budget was being prepared, he had several calls from people interested in the position. The job would be advertised for three successive weeks and then interviews would be scheduled. The position isn’t an attempt to add more bureaucracy, he clarified.

Councilman Gene Weedin asked if the job description would include assisting with the regional land bank that is being considered and City Attorney Nathaniel Mustion said that nuisance abatement assistance would be helpful.

Mayor Mike Gonzales asked for input from the public. McCook citizen Linda Taylor and a candidate for the McCook City Council told the council that she was approached by several in the community concerned about the new position, given the higher water and sewer rates the council is also approving later in the meeting. With rising inflation, she asked the council to be cognizant of this concern. Mayor Gonzales agreed that inflation needed to be monitored.

The job description the council approved has the person hired under the supervision of the city manager and would include the job duties of analyzing and implementing policies and procedures, assisting in the preparation of the budget, responding to and resolving inquiries and complaints and providing responsible staff assistance to the city manager, city council and department heads.