Charles City Administrator Diers accepts similar job in Clear Lake

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Charles City will be saying farewell to City Administrator Steve Diers this summer.

Serving in the Charles City position for nearly 12 years, Diers threw his hat into the ring as the city of Clear Lake began searching for a new city administrator following a retirement in February.

“It’s just a great opportunity that I checked out,” said Diers. “It’s a nice, unique community.”

On Friday, May 9, the city of Clear Lake announced that it had selected Diers out of three finalists and that Diers had accepted the job offer.

The job offer won’t be official until the Clear Lake City Council approves it at a meeting on May 19, but if all goes as planned Diers will begin his new position on July 7.

In the meantime, the Charles City Council will have to begin its own search for a new city administrator, which is expected to be a topic of discussion at the next council workshop meeting on Wednesday.

“I don’t think they’ll have any problems finding a replacement,” said Diers. “We have a lot of neat things here in the community. I think there’s a lot of people around the state that might have a lot of interest in Charles City.”

Diers isn’t sure yet what his last day with the city will be and said he has bittersweet feelings about moving on to the next chapter of his career.

“It’s been a fun 11-plus years,” said Diers. “Charles City is a great town and it’s been a pleasure to be able to serve them as their city administrator.”

Diers had been selected by the Charles City Council from five city administrator finalists in March 2014. He had previously been city manager in Independence, and prior to that city administrator/clerk in Monona.

Clear Lake is slightly larger than Charles City, with a population of 7,600 compared to Charles City’s 7,320. Clear Lake has a significantly higher average household income, of $121,755, compared with Charles City’s $65,258, according to recent U.S. Census figures. The median home value in Clear Lake is $235,100, compared with Charles City’s $118,900.

This will be the second big change in Charles City’s city government. Trudy O’Donnell, the former city clerk/city finance director, retired last month after almost 18 years with Charles City. She was replaced by Brittney Lentz, who had been the city clerk in Plainfield.