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As of Monday July 8 the city of North Branch will have a city administrator at the helm, at least while the search continues for a permanent full time administrator.  A full council voted unanimously in a hastily-called emergency meeting Monday July 1, to extend a contract to Linda Woulfe.  She attended the meeting and expressed her desire to help out.

Council member Peter Schaps had directly contacted Woulfe, independently of the search firm assigned to bring in candidates for consideration. He said he knew she was retired from Cambridge (in 2021) as city administrator and that she’d filled in as temporary administrator for cities in this region.  He got hold of her contact information and she seemed enthusiastic and he involved the mayor the last week of June (after council had voted to create ‘acting city administrators’ in the chief of police and finance director.)

Mayor Schieber said he and Schaps met with Woulfe Friday June 28. Schieber said she had “good answers” to his questions.  Woulfe’s resume was distributed to the council Friday.  The “wheels are spinning quick” the mayor acknowledged.

The goal is to still have a full time permanent city administrator hired by fall.  The contract with Woulfe currently states she is an employee until the end of October.  She said if the city needs more time to finalize a permanent hire, she’s open to work with the city to extend terms.

Council member Robert Canada declared Woulfe would be a “good fit” and said “having met her and reading her resume” he was comfortable supporting the motion to bring her on board.

Woulfe’s contract calls for Monday through Thursday hours, and night meetings of council, with a max of 32 hours per week, at $1,440 per week. Should the city need more hours the pay will be $45 per hour.

North Branch lost its city administrator at the end of 2023. Community Development Director Jason Ziemer was designated as interim administrator in the time being, but he then resigned from the city in June, leaving council to put the chief of police and finance director in what was understood would be short term “acting” administration roles.

Mayor Schieber noted Woulfe has experience and can “provide guidance and facilitate the city on bumpy roads” plus she has been involved in municipal staff contract negotiations which are underway in North Branch at this time.

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