Itasca seeking new village administrator

Itasca officials are interviewing four village administrator candidates this week, who were chosen from a pool of 77 applicants.

The move comes more than a year after current Administrator David Williams announced his retirement.

Williams, 64, initially was slated to leave his post in April 2009 amid a series of major shifts at the top levels of Itasca government, including the election of Village President Jeff Pruyn and appointment of new trustees, the death of longtime Trustee Ron Putzell and the retirement of former Village Clerk Carole Schreiber.

Williams chose to remain in the post until now, after Pruyn asked him to help Itasca handle the transition resulting from all the changes.

"I asked him to stay after the election until we could find a replacement, because I felt with a new mayor, three new trustees and a new clerk that it was not the time to be without an administrator," Pryn said.

Williams has been coordinating the search for his successor since February, whittling the 77 candidates to 30 who were sent additional questions. Then 12 were asked to interview with Williams, Pruyn and department heads. From that pool, four were presented to the village board Monday and Tuesday.

"It's nice to be in charge of the process to choose the person who will follow you and I am grateful to the village for that," Williams said.

Pruyn said the board seeks a versatile administrator who wants to grow in Itasca.

"We are looking for someone who we feel will stay here, not someone who is looking for bigger and better things," said Pruyn. "The administrator in Itasca also wears a lot of hats and plays many roles and we want someone who is comfortable with that."

Officials won't reveal details about the final four candidates, but said they expect to name Williams' replacement within the next few weeks.