Administrator terminated, city reorganizes

WAUPACA – The City of Waupaca is down two critical roles within the city government which has made the remaining staff having to pick up extra roles to fill in any and all gaps.
The finance director, Stephanie Reif, gave notice that she was leaving the position with her last day on March 13.
At the March 3 city council meeting, the council moved into closed session to discuss the termination of the city administrator, Josh Finch, who started in this role in June 2025.
The reason for termination was not stated at the March 3 meeting; however, the vote was unanimous.
With this termination it was stated that Justin Berrens, current Director of Public Works, would be taking on the interim duties of the city administrator while the city works to find a replacement.

Berrens will still retain his duties as the Director of Public Works.
The city council voted at the March 17 meeting to confirm the interim role for Berrens.
Mayor Brian Smith asked the council to increase wages for not only Berrens but department heads that will be fulfilling extra duties during the six month interim for hiring a new city administrator.
Smith said they are in a situation where any contracts that are needed to be paid out to the former city administrator would need to be fulfilled before a new hire comes on board.
Smith also said that the city will be using the six-month interim between hiring a replacement to discuss the city administrator role and what the city needs in a city administrator.
The interim will be used to figure out what is best for the role and what a job description should look like.
For the six-month interim while the city decides how best to move forward with the city administrator role, it was voted to increase the pay of Berrens by $5 per hour to cover the dueling roles he is filling, and with department heads getting an increase of $1 per hour.