Wood Dale hires new city manager

Wood Dale city officials announced Thursday that former Wheeling Village Manager Wally Douthwaite will be the new city manager.

Douthwaite will have a two-year contract that will pay him a base salary of $120,000. That's actually a pay cut from Douthwaite's Wheeling days when he earned $142,110 a year before being asked to resign in 2006.

Wheeling officials, at the time, said they were looking to move away from Douthwaite's "laid-back" leadership style to someone with more a hands-on approach.

Wood Dale expects a redevelopment boom along the Thorndale Avenue corridor as western access to O'Hare International Airport becomes a reality.

That made Douthwaite's experience with tax increment financing districts and luring big name hotels to Wheeling extra appealing during the city manager selection process, Mayor Ken Johnson said.

Johnson said he hopes some of that wisdom and experience rubs off on Assistant City Manager Jeff Mermuys.

The city council already is eyeing Mermuys as the next city manager when Douthwaite is ready to step down.

"It was appealing that Wally's got a little bit of gray hair," Johnson said. "He's got some experience behind him, which we need. He will be a mentor to Jeff. Not that we're pushing Wally out the door yet. Wally can stay as long as he wants."

The city looked at a pool of 43 initial applicants for the job. With the help of a search firm, the city council narrowed the field to 10 candidates, eventually bringing in five people for an interview.

Johnson said the council unanimously voted for Douthwaite in closed session.

Douthwaite said the job appealed to him because Wood Dale shares a lot of attributes with Wheeling and Des Plaines, where he worked as city manager for eight years until 2001. So he felt he could assume the job with a sense of familiarity.

Since his departure from Wheeling, Douthwaite has served as a community development consultant for Maywood. He considered moving into the private sector to work on land developments.

"I found out after I took a look at some of those positions that, a lot of time, there's not a good fit between government and the private sector," Douthwaite said. "This isn't the time to get into that line of work with the economy the way it is.

"There wasn't a whole lot out there," he added. "So I'm fired up, charged up to get to Wood Dale."

Douthwaite confirmed that, despite the two-year contract, he's looking to work in Wood Dale well beyond that. His first day on the job will by July 14.