FAIRMONT–The Fairmont City Council on Monday talked about filling some important vacant or soon-to-be vacant positions within the city including the city administrator, community development director and chief of police positions.

The city administrator position has been open since November of 2024 and Jeff O’Neill has been filling it in an interim capacity.

However, on Monday, O’Neill said, “With regards to the city administrator position, I’ve identified November 23rd as my last day.”

He said that the council did not need to decide then and there what it wanted to do but he said the council could begin a discussion. O’Neill also said the council could entertain interviewing the remaining two of the five candidates that were interviewed for the city administrator position last month.

The option of having someone on staff serve as an interim city administrator, “to keep the lights on,” while the council searches for a permanent one was also suggested by O’Neill.

“We are a charter city and certain action has to be taken by the city administrator under the charter so there has to be a way to figure out a way to operate,” O’Neill said.

Council Member Wayne Hasek said he did not think the two remaining candidates were interested and O’Neill said that he confirmed they were.

Council Member Jay Maynard said the council had already gone through the interview process and deemed them qualified and that he did not know why they couldn’t be considered.

“I feel that, with everything happening, we need to take a step back and consider other options,” said Council Member Britney Kawecki.

She said the council could consider an interim city administrator through the League of Minnesota Cities, as was also suggested by O’Neill.

“I think we picked our top three and to look lower on the tier is a bad decision,” Kawecki said. “I also think that picking an interim from city staff, as you’ve said, we’re trying to keep the lights on with existing staff… I think that staff is going to be stretched thin as-is and we need to consider other options.”

However, Council Member Randy Lubenow said he was interested in reviewing some of the people who had applied for the city administrator position a few months ago but were not recommended by the firm for in-person interviews with the council.

O’Neill said that if one were to look at the list of the 27 applicants, there’s a reason they didn’t make the top five.

“I guess I think that’s what we hired MGT to do,” Kawecki said of reviewing the applicants again.

O’Neill confirmed that the firm, MGT, had went through the list of applicants and narrowed it down to 10 candidates and then the council whittled it down to five.

“We did interview the five and we picked our top three and there were two remaining so we’ve already interviewed them once,” Kawecki said.

O’Neill said they could go back to the top 10 identified by the firm and interview the other five that were not first selected for in-person interviews.

After some more discussion, Lubenow pointed out that there will be an election a year from now and that in January 2027 there will likely be a new city council.

“It might not be a bad idea at this point if there are some more seasoned administrators out there that are just looking for a couple of years,” Lubenow said.

Maynard made a motion to consult the League of Minnesota Cities and obtain a list of potential interim city administrator candidates. The motion passed.

The community development director will be vacant after Nov. 12 as Pat Oman has indicated that that will be his last day in the role. Oman has held the position since August 2024 and was one of the final three city administrator candidates but pulled out of that earlier this month before submitting his resignation.

O’Neill said that the position has not yet been posted for various reasons but that it will “get going” unless council changes direction.

“That’s a position you approved a time ago and we’ve had some great progress in that area with Director Oman at the helm, but we do need to fill that spot,” O’Neill said.

He said that HR Director Rachel Viesselman would take the lead in finding a replacement with staff chiming in as well along with potential council input, too.

Fairmont Police Chief Mike Hunter has also indicated that he will be retiring effective Nov. 30.

Typically the city administrator, with assistance from the HR director, is responsible for hiring a chief of police.

O’Neill suggested that the police captain, which has recently been filled by Mike Beletti, fill in as chief in the interim. He also said that the council could utilize a retired chief of police from a nearby city to serve on an interview committee along with the police commission and HR director.

O’Neill added that the police commission is active and recently helped select the new captain.