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Interviews of finalists for the position of city administrator for North Branch were held Sept 26 and resulted in council agreeing to offer the job to the current Crosby MN city administrator, Matthew Hill.  Crosby is in Crow Wing County and has a population of about 2,300.

Council members met Thursday this week—with Robert Canada participating remotely—in a daytime special session and interviewed the finalists at city hall. Prior to the interviews, a contracted consultant facilitated a discussion about filling the city’s vacant Community Development Director position.  Jason Ziemer had been North Branch’s Director, when he stepped forward to serve as interim city administrator after Renae Fry exited the end of 2023. 

Ziemer resigned a short time after this transition. Semi-retired veteran city executive, Linda Woulfe, was subsequently brought on board for providing interim administrative services.

Council plans to develop details for a contract and act on the new administrator hire October 8, at a regular meeting, Woulfe announced in a press release.

Meanwhile, council consensus is to offer the vacant Community Development Director position to longtime North Branch staffer Nate Sondrol. His current post now in GIS-parks planning was recommended by the consultant to be restructured with portions of the work assigned to different departments.  A job description and recommendations on how to re-distribute Sondrol’s former duties will be formalized later by council.

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