City officials mum on finalists’ names
By Scott Bellile
The public is invited to meet the finalists for the New London city administrator position Thursday, May 2, at The Washington Center, 500 W. Washington St.
The meet-and-greet event will begin at 7 p.m. with brief candidate introductions at 7:30 p.m., Mayor Gary Henke said.
The finalists will interview with an ad hoc committee comprised of city council members and city staff Friday, May 3.
Candidates will also be given a tour of the city that day, according to City Administrator Kent Hager.
The Press Star requested the names of the finalists from the city for publication ahead of next week’s meet-and-greet.
So far, the city has declined to release them.
“The issue that I have is sometimes until we get to that final meet-and-greet, some of the candidates might be kind of in flux,” said Russ Van Gompel, senior account executive for Integrated Public Resources, the city’s hired firm to head the city administrator search. “We had four, we’re down to three, and we’re striving to keep the process at three, so if another person drops out, we would have to add another person to the meet-and-greet.”
Hager will retire from the job on June 14 after close to 20 years working for the city.