Victoria MN Newspaper-The Scoop at City Hall

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BEN LANDHAUSER OF WAUKEE, IOWA

NEW CITY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Five candidates were in the immediate running to be Victoria's new Community Development Director. City Manager Laurie Hokkanen chose Ben Landhauser of Waukee, Iowa, for the job. The informal announcement came on Tuesday, December 2nd, at a meeting of the Centennial Advisory Committee, held at City Hall.

In an earlier interview Ben said he is from Waukee, Iowa, the fastest growing suburb of Des Moines. The city developed 300 new lots so far in 201 4. Ben started in 2006 as an intern. He helped develop the city’s website, its downtown master plan, and façade improvements. He said his family is willing to move to Minnesota.

Said Laurie on November 24th, "I'm excited with the pool of candidates. By the time we meet again, hopefully we'll have someone on board." The next city council meeting is on Monday evening, December 8th.

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With Victoria' new form of city government, the City Manager hires and fires personnel. In Victoria's previous form of city government, everyone was answerable to the City Council, including the City Administrator. It was on Election Tuesday 2012, the Victoria voters approved the change in city government.

It was in July 2014, four months ago already, that Holly Kreft, Victoria's longtime Community Development Director resigned -- the same month, in fact, that Victoria's longtime City Manager Don Uram resigned. And, as with Victoria's new City Manager Laurie Hokkanen, whose first day of work with the City of Victoria was on Monday, November 10th, applications were pared down by Richard Fursman and his company, Brimeyer Fursmasn.

"Tonight we're at another crossroads," said Mr. Fursman on November 10th, referring to the Community Development Director position. He said there were 34 applicants, that he interviewed 18 of them, forwarded 16 to City Manager Laurie Hokkanen, and together settled on 10. Mr. Fursman gave a brief overview of the ten candidates to councilmembers at that November 10th city council meeting. Five were selected by Manager Hokkanen, to be interviewed by councilmembers and to be introduced to the public.

Said Laurie, "It was a great applicant pool. I looked for their ability to have good people relationships plus also technical skills."

As Councilmember Jim Crowley stated of the Community Development Director, "This person reports to Laurie, unlike the City Manager who reports to us."

Councilmembers and staff spent all day Thursday, November 20th, meeting and interviewing the five candidates. Laurie said she spent one hour of one-on-one time with each of the five. That evening, the public met the candidates in an informal atmosphere of lemonade and cookies. The candidates each gave a brief five-minute overview of themselves. One candidate, Joe Janish, was in Victoria most of the day but was unable to be at the public gathering due to a previous commitment that couldn't be broken.

Mayor Tom O'Connor thanked the five candidates for their time. "From my point of view, you all did a great job." Looking to the group of citizens who came that evening to meet the candidates, the mayor added, "It's clear that people in this city care about the city." Approximately 20 to 30 people were in attendance.

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