Search for Sister Bay Administrator Continues

Sister Bay village staff and trustees are filling the gaps left by the village administrator role, which has been vacant since Dec. 15.

“We’re trying to find someone as quickly as possible, but we’re looking for the right individual,” said village board president Dave Lienau.

The initial job posting, placed a few weeks after former Administrator Zeke Jackson left the post on Dec. 15, resulted in more than 30 applicants. Village staff and representatives narrowed the pool down to their top pick in March, but the applicant withdrew for personal reasons.

“We were disappointed, he was disappointed,” Lienau said. “We did talk to our number two choice and determined we did not want to offer our position to any lower than our number one choice.”

The village posted the position a few weeks later and received approximately a dozen resumes. The personnel committee is expected to meet next week to review the applicants.

In the meantime, village trustees, interim administrator Janal Suppanz, finance director Tasha Rass and clerk Heidi Teich have picked up some slack in managing the balance of activities in the village.

“There’s a fair number of economic development projects happening and the majority of that is through the Plan Commission,” Lienau said. “The staff has got a good handle on it and they contact us [the village board] when they need to.”

Lienau does not believe the competitive labor market, with Wisconsin’s unemployment rate at a record low 2.8 percent, is having an effect on the search. The drop in applicants from around 35 to 12 between each posting of the job is more due to seasonality, Lienau said.

“The competition for workforce is pretty high but there are not many administrator positions that are open,” he said. “I contribute it more to the end of the year, new year job cycle. People like to make a change right at the beginning of the year if possible.”