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City hires Wolf as new administrator

Lead Summary
By
Lori Sorenson

Jill Wolf of rural Adrian will be Luverne’s next city administrator, according to action at a special council meeting Tuesday night.
Wolf, who was director of Luverne’s economic development authority from 2004 to 2009, was one of four finalists considered for the job held by John Call who retires in December.
In her application letter to Luverne city officials, she spoke fondly of her time in Luverne working with Call and more recently having him as mentor for her role as Adrian city administrator since 2019.
“The city of Luverne is an exceptional community with superior infrastructure, excellent education opportunities, superior health care and amazing amenities,” Wolf said.
“I would love the opportunity to continue to enhance the opportunities in the community, allowing future generations to continue to ‘love the life.”’
Call formally announced his retirement at the May 24 city council meeting.
“The last 17 years in Luverne have been the highlight of my 35-year career in city management,” Call wrote in his resignation letter to the council.
“With a progressive mayor and council and highly competent department heads and employees, we have been able to move the city forward in many areas of economic development, housing and quality of life while at the same time delivering great city services on a daily basis.”
This summer the council decided against hiring an outside agency to recruit candidates and instead formed a recruitment committee that included Craig Oftedahl, Mike Cox, Ashley Kurtz, Tim Gust, Caroline Thorson, Pat Baustian and Connie Connell.
They worked on updated job description, position profile, salary range, and geographic scope for the recruitment of a new city administrator.
They asked current department heads what traits and qualities they’d like to see in the new city administrator, and they also surveyed city leaders about knowledge, skills, abilities and minimum training and experience they wanted in a new city administrator.
City clerk Jessica Mead also worked with the League of Minnesota Cities and other professional development colleagues to establish a recruitment plan.
Their efforts resulted in 30 applications that were narrowed to seven first-round interviews.
The four finalists, in addition to Wolf, included Rebecca Schrupp of Canby, Erik Hansen of Tracy and Lee Mattson of Waseca.
After a community “meet and greet” earlier this month, the search committee met Thursday, Oct. 13, to make a final recommendation — that the city hire Wolf as the next administrator.
The council met in special session Tuesday night to formally accept that recommendation and extend the offer to Wolf. She will start sometime in December and her salary is yet to be determined.
Mayor Pat Baustian said the entire council was in agreement about hiring Wolf.
“We were looking for an administrator who could make a seamless transition, who understood that we have no ‘issues to be fixed’ and someone who will keep Luverne on the path it has been on in terms of housing, day care and economic development,” Baustian said.
“Jill has worked here before and understands our priorities.”
He said the search committee also saw value in Wolf’s working knowledge of Missouri River Energy Services, the electrical utility that serves both Adrian and Luverne. Wolf is also on the communication advisory board for MRES.
“It’s one of our biggest enterprise utilities, and understanding that is very important,” Baustian said.
Wolf graduated cum laude from St. Cloud State University in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in community development and a minor in communication studies.
She and her husband, Chris, have four children in the Adrian School District ranging in age from fifth to 12th grade. Before they were in school, she worked part time writing grants for government entities and small businesses.
In 2017 she worked as program developer for the Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging before assuming the city administrator job in Adrian in 2019.
Call, 63, said he and his wife, Brenda, will continue living in Luverne, and he will work with the council to ensure a smooth transition as Wolf assumes her duties as the next city administrator.

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