The Washington City Council approved acknowledging City Administrator Brent Hinson’s letter of resignation and discussed next steps in filling his position Tuesday.

Hinson submitted his resignation as he has been hired by Mason City to be their deputy city administrator/finance director, and his last day with Washington will be August 6th. Mayor Jaron Rosien brought up a few options of how to move forward, including doing a formal request for proposals to hire a consultant to assist in the hiring process for a new city administrator or informally reviewing consultants that have already expressed interest. Rosien also brought up how the city should handle Hinson’s responsibilities in the interim, such as hiring an interim city administrator, or going with Hinson’s recommendation to have City Clerk Sally Hart and Finance Director Kelsey Brown work as co-interim city administrators. Hart and Brown voiced that they are willing to accept these responsibilities, and Council Member Elaine Moore voiced her support, “I think it’s a great idea, I think it serves the city well and I’m more on the fast-paced, let’s get a search started, and move forward.”

Hinson added that Hart and Brown would both be compensated for this extra work as stipulated in city policy, and the city should anticipate contracting some services out for matters such as tax increment financing. The council agreed that Rosien would gather more information from consultants and about a hiring timeline for their next regular meeting in July.