Willmar City Council to interview Spicer administrator for open Willmar administrator position

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Jun. 23—WILLMAR — The city of Willmar has a new candidate for the open city administrator position. At Monday's Willmar City Council meeting, the council unanimously approved interviewing Leslie Valiant, the current administrator for the city of Spicer.

That interview was to take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, following interviews held Tuesday afternoon with members of the Willmar Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and city staff. Valiant was also taken on a tour of the city with Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission director Aaron Backman, and she had dinner with the council and the mayor.

The announcement of Valiant as a new finalist for the Willmar job took many people who attended the Tuesday chamber and staff interviews by surprise. Patty Heminover of Baker Tilly, which ran the national search for candidates, explained that Valiant's name could not be released publicly until after she was named a finalist by the Willmar City Council on Monday night.

"We had to move very quickly, but nobody knew until the council made the decision," Heminover said.

In an interview after Monday's council meeting, Heminover told the West Central Tribune that after Dana Schoening, the council's first choice for administrator, turned the city down, Heminover began recruiting other applicants for the position around the state. The position had remained open even during the last round of interviews. It was made clear to any possible candidates that they would have to go through the same application and vetting process as earlier finalists.

Valiant has been the Spicer city administrator since April 2009. Before that she had worked as a finance technician for St. Joseph and a senior accounts clerk for Litchfield Public Utilities. All totaled she has 39 years of experience working in and for Minnesota cities, Heminover said.

Valiant has a bachelor's in business administration and in accounting, an associate degree in accounting and a human resources certification, according to her resume.

At Tuesday's interview with the chamber and city staff, Valiant was asked a series of questions ranging from the challenges facing Willmar to her management style and, several times, why she wanted to take on this job. She said the time is right for her personally and she feels that she would be an asset for the city.

"I've watched this position come by, you all know, many times over the last 10 years. I thought, well this is the time to take the opportunity to see if I can be of assistance to the city of Willmar," Valiant said.

She said she has seen that the members of the Willmar City Council have been taking steps to change how they operate and work better together.

"I think the council has looked inward a lot and worked very hard to change, and continue to move Willmar forward too," Valiant said.

While she has some knowledge about the issues facing Willmar, such as the need to hire staff and the ongoing city hall project, Valiant said one of her first orders of business would be to get to know the staff and help the council identify priorities that help them make decisions.

As a leader and manager, Valiant said she wants to have open communication with her staff and the council.

"I think it is important we have great communication together. My door is always open and it has always been that way," Valiant said. "Communication is the best policy. No question is off the table ever, no problem is off the table ever. If I don't know what is going on out there, I can't help anybody, or support anybody."