The City of Great Bend has one key administrative opening and will soon have another. Assistant City Administrator Dawn Jaeger recently resigned and City Clerk/Finance Manager Wayne Henneke has announced plans to retire in December.
“We haven’t started looking for anyone yet,” City Administrator Howard Partington said. When they do, Henneke’s position will be first on the list.
City officials would like to have Henneke’s replacement onboard by mid November so the new person could be trained. “We would like to overlap them by a couple weeks,” Partington said.
This is a multi-faceted job. As clerk, the job description calls for keeping City Council meeting minutes, preparing records and reports for council members and other tasks. The financial side handles working closely on the budget and bookkeeping. Tossed in for good measure is utility billing.
To fill the opening, Howard will form a committee consisting of himself and a few council members that will review applications. They will forward their recommendation to Mayor Mike Allison for appointment, and the full council will OK the appointment.
“This is an important job for the community,” Partington said. That is why such care is taken.
Henneke, who will be 64, has been with the city for 16 years and said it was just time to retire. He and his wife “want to travel and do the family thing.”  
“I’ve been in government and finance since 1974,” he said. He came to Great Bend after 18 years in Farmington, Minn. Prior to that, he’d been in Walla Walla, Wash.
He is a native of western Washington State and his wife is from Minnesota. There may be a move in their future, but “we’re going to stay here for a while.”
As for the assistant city administrator post, that is much more ambiguous, Partington said. The duties, such as dealing with zoning issues, have been divvied up among other city staff members in the interim.
“We are going to wait a little bit on this,” Partington said. First, he wants to fill Heneke’s job and, after the first of the year, start looking to fill that of Jaeger.
Although Partington may seek input from council members, this job does not require action by the mayor or full council.