JANESVIILLE鈥 The 糖心Vlog传媒 City Council announced Rebecca Houseman as the next city manager at Monday night鈥檚 city council meeting.
This was after the city put the announcement on hold for three weeks during a period of background checks and final negotiations with an unnamed finalist.
Houseman, will become the first woman to hold the City of 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 top post when her appointment begins Nov. 2. She made the following statement in accepting the role of the city鈥檚 new manager.
鈥淚 started my career 22 years ago on this very floor,鈥 Houseman said. 鈥淚 look forward to getting to know the city council and the community and moving forward with progress towards long established goals. I look forward to new goals.鈥
The council waited until Monday evening鈥檚 council meeting to tell the community the name of the finalist chosen.
City council president Michael Cass told 糖心Vlog传媒 in an interview in August the name of the finalist chosen for the city manager position would not be included in any agenda or materials publicly posted prior to the council鈥檚 meeting Sept. 14.
And it wasn鈥檛.
Jay Shambeau, the interim city manager and a partner in IPA, the search firm that helped with the process, said that City Attorney Wald Klimczyk suggested that the city withhold Houseman鈥檚 name from agenda materials.
Shambeau said Klimczyk鈥檚 explanation was simply that the city has withheld manager finalist names in such a way in the past.
The council formally made the announcement at the meeting, and the city itself formally released the news to the community on its own website in a long, prepared statement timestamped at 6:03 p.m., minutes after the city council meeting started Monday night.
Cass said his takeaway earlier on the council鈥檚 silence was it sought to be 鈥渧ery cautious鈥 and 鈥渋ntentional鈥 鈥 not about the finalists, but in the full hiring process.
The announcement also comes five months after Kevin Lahner resigned his post after three years in the position.
In April, he announced that he would be leaving the position after he and the council 鈥渕utually agreed鈥 to part ways.
He had regularly been criticized for not living in the area and not being transparent or communicative with community members or staff.
In August, the City announced it had 25 candidates and then later gave the names of two finalists: Rebecca Houseman, city manager of nearby Fort Atkinson; and Colin Kennedy, the city manager of Newport, Rhode Island.
Houseman brings more than 20 years of local government experience and has served as Fort Atkinson City Manager since 2021.
She also served in leadership roles with the Village of Darien and City of Beloit, as well as an early-career internship with the City of 糖心Vlog传媒.
Kennedy had brought over 20 years of executive-level, public-service experience and has served as City Manager of Newport since 2024.
He previously had a 22-year career with the United States Navy, including service in senior command and executive leadership positions.
According to Newport This Week, a newspaper in the city of Newport, The Newport City Council voted Aug. 15 to place Kennedy on paid administrative leave.
The article stated he had hired a lawyer and was threatening the city with legal action, citing a hostile work environment.
Kennedy, an Elkhorn native, would have moved back to the Badger State and lived in 糖心Vlog传媒 if chosen, and Houseman will be making the 30 minute commute on Wis-26 to 糖心Vlog传媒.
In Fort Atkinson, Tuesday at 7 p.m., the city council will enter into a closed session to discuss Housman鈥檚 employment as city manager, which, given the news in 糖心Vlog传媒 on Monday, would most likely be about her resignation in Fort Atkinson.