Around five months after former City Administrator Brent Hinson resigned for a position in Mason City, a new administrator will be stepping into the role on January 17th.

After two application and interview periods, the Washington City Council approved confirming the appointment of Deanna McCusker as city administrator during their recent meeting. McCusker shall receive a base salary of $105,000 with an additional $5,000 at her six month review pending a favorable performance evaluation. McCusker commented during the meeting that she’s excited to start this new chapter, in attendance with her husband Ken. Several council members expressed overwhelming enthusiasm for McCusker, though the council later shared gratitude for City Clerk Sally Hart and Finance Director Kelsey Brown’s work as co-administrators during the interim. Council Member Steven Gault said they both knocked it out of the park, “When you first started you thought, ‘Oh, man I’m never going to get this done,’ but you did a good job.”

McCusker has been the city administrator for Cascade since 2014, and was city administrator for Strawberry Point from 2006-2013. She has Master’s degrees in business and public administration from Upper Iowa University.