The city of Ralston was founded in 1912. Since that time, there’s never been a city administrator.
Mayor Don Groesser said the city needs to hire a full-time position to deal with the day-to-day operations of the city.
“In the past, we've just been able to you know pretty well manage all the department heads and myself manage the whole process but we've grown a lot, we've got a lot more expanding with the arena and the different aspects of our city,” said Groesser who said the majority of the work falls mostly under him, “Ralston's been very conservative over the years by having me do all that work, and so they've saved a lot of money over the last few years for me to do this and now it's an opportunity for us to work forward.”
The position would be paid anywhere from $100-to-125 thousand dollars a year which will come from an increased budget and the vacated economic development position.
Also adding to this need according to Groesser is the Ralston Arena, “you've got the whole arena operation which has doubled our budget, you've got a lot more contracts you're dealing with, lot more employees.”
Ever since the Ralston Arena in 2012 it’s been plagued with financial problems struggling to get out of the red.
“It's a work in progress,” said Groesser.
Reaction is split among residents of Ralston.
Chris Zadina favors the new position, “Just so that we have someone looking at our finances and making sure that our tax dollars are being spent wisely and for the benefit of the community.”
However others need more convincing, “With the way the arena's going I don't think it's good to add another expense to the city budget,” said resident John Patrick.
Groesser said the Ralston city council voted 4-0 with two members missing Tuesday night. He said at least one more round of voting needs to happen before this is a done deal. Groesser believes the position should be an interim position for more than 6 months before the person becomes full-time.
