Monmouth names Lou Leone new city administrator

The City of Monmouth has a new City Administrator.

The Monmouth City Council officially entered into an employment agreement with Lou Leone to be its new City Administrator at last night’s meeting.

“On behalf of the Council and the City of Monmouth, we’re excited to have Lou Leone be our next City Administrator,” Mayor Rod Davies said. “Lou has some excellent experience in similarly-sized cities and the right background and skill set to ensure we continue prudent financial management, aggressive economic development and effective leadership of city government.”

Leone is planning to begin working as the Monmouth City Administrator on July 10^th, replacing retiring City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher, who has served in that position for over nine years. He brings financial management skills to Monmouth, as well as experience in successfully undertaking new residential housing projects, the ability to negotiate collective bargaining agreements and address other human resource management issues, preparing long-term capital improvement plans and to address organizational culture to improve cross-department collaboration and improve local government services to the community.

Leone has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Milliken University in Decatur and a master’s degree in public administration (Local Government Management) from the University of Colorado-Denver. He has served as City Administrator in four communities, including Kiowa, Kansas; New London, Wisconsin; Nebraska City, Nebraska and Harvard, Illinois. In Kiowa, he guided the city from near bankruptcy to solvency, saved $1.2 million in three years and delivered a new City Hall while also replacing a water distribution system.

In New London, he developed and implemented a strategic residential and economic development plan, led a Riverfront Redevelopment project, including a 60-unit housing and mixed-use commercial along the Wolf River in the downtown district. He served as the Emergency Manager and Public Information Officer. In Nebraska City, Leone was able to reduce the property tax levy, undertook a 127-home residential development project and improved its capital/planning process. In Harvard, he significantly increased residential development and improved the permitting and review process, improved the organizational culture and negotiated union labor agreements.

Monmouth first advertised for the City Administrator’s position in late March, with a May 1 deadline for resumes. The desired qualifications included a bachelor’s degree in public administration, urban management, public policy, community development, business administration or related field and five years of experience in public management at the local level. A master’s degree in public or business administration was highly preferred.

The City received several applicants that were screened by Steinbrecher, with help from the Illinois City Manager’s Association (ICMA) Senior Advisor for western Illinois John Phillips, the former long-time City Administrator in Rock Island. The two most qualified candidates were selected for City Council interviews in mid-June.

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