BREAKING: Kasson city administrator offered position in Tennessee
Tue, 07/23/2024 - 12:01pm
admin
By:
Alex Malm DCI Contributor
Kasson City Administrator Tim Ibisch was picked as the next city manager of Loudon Tenn., Monday night, pending successful contract negotiations.
“I think his interview went great...his Zoom interviews were great, his background was great, and so I think I'm going to make a motion that we nominate him for the position,” Loudon City
Council member Eric Newman said.
The minutes from a Loudon meeting in January of this year showed Ibisch was considered as a finalist for the position.
Ibisch was hired by Kasson in 2019, to take over the top post in Kasson City Hall following a stint in the same position with the City of Blue Earth.
In addition to being city administrator, Ibisch also serves as general manager of Kasson Public Utilities.
Reached by email, Ibisch made clear he hasn’t accepted any other job, at least at this time.
Typically as is the case with top city or county administrator positions, there will be negotiations taking place between Ibisch and the City of Loudon. Calls to Loudon’s interim city manager and city attorney went unreturned at the time of publication.
At the meeting, Loudon City Attorney Kris Frye said the beginning salary as part of the advertisement is more than what he is making in Kasson.
“I'll start with the beginning wage that was listed in the advertisement and go from there,” he said about the contract negotiations. “I know that the starting wage here is more than what he is
currently earning where he's at.”
Reached by email for comment, Ibisch told the DCI Tuesday “I am traveling today but I will address it in more detail with the council tomorrow.”
It is unclear at this time if Ibisch had notified City Hall staff, or anyone in his administration for that matter, about him being in the running for the position. Multiple sources, including city council members, said they weren’t aware of Ibisch being a finalist when reached by the DCI.
During his interview in Loudon, Ibisch touched on his time in Kasson, thus far.
“I enjoy the community I serve right now and you know November’s coming… so you never know I might not be enjoying [it] as much in four or five months but right now I’ve got a good
team and I’ve got a good council,” he said.
He added: “At the end of the day why do we take any job? We’re looking for growth opportunities, we’re looking to see different things, this is a beautiful part of the country.”
Reached by phone Tuesday morning, Mayor Chris McKern had no comment.
“I don’t have a comment on anything employee related or personnel related,” he said.
This story is developing and will be updated as more details become available.
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