By Michael S. Hoey
The Common Council unanimously approved hiring Brian Wilson as the new City Administrator on March 2. He will begin his duties on April 26, a few days following the retirement of current administrator Denise Pieroni.
“From the interview process, it was clear that Brian had the most familiarity with Delavan out of all the candidates,” Mayor Ryan Schroeder said in a press release. “Based on Brian’s experience, we felt really comfortable that he could hit the ground running on his first day to continue moving Delavan forward.”
Schroeder later said Wilson was the only one of the final candidates to have personally visited Delavan before applying for the position. His familiarity with the community, Schroeder said, gives him a better understanding of the city.
Wilson also has a lot of great experience in city government and longevity where he has been working in Belleville, according to Schroeder, so Delavan officials can be confident he’s in it for the long haul. Wilson has years of experience working in the state, so is familiar with state grants and laws. He also comes from a community that recently built a new fire station and library. With Delavan considering a major expansion of the library, Schroeder said hiring an administrator who has experience with large capital projects was a plus.
Schroeder said city department heads had the opportunity to meet the finalists and all seemed to rank Wilson as their No. 1 choice. Wilson also did well with community stakeholders, Schroeder said, in a meeting at Lake Lawn Resort on Feb. 26 along with the other candidates.
“He did well with the community stakeholders,” Schroeder said. “We heard really positive things.”
On Feb. 27, the council approved offering Wilson a contract and Wilson accepted.
“I look forward to working with him,” Schroeder said. “It is a nice fit for him and his family and for the council.”
Wilson said he’s humbled and excited to begin.
“This is a truly humbling and exciting moment in my life,” Wilson said in the press release. “I look forward to working for the City of Delavan and beginning my service to its people.”
Wilson thanked Schroeder, the council and all who were involved in the selection process.
“I will work diligently to earn the faith and trust of the community,” Wilson said.
Wilson has more than 24 years of experience in local government and has served in senior leadership roles for 13 years working in emergency management, utilities, budgeting, zoning, and community and economic development. He has been the administrator for the Village of Belleville since 2016 and was the administrator for the Town of Beloit from 2012-2015.
He has a Master of Science degree in Administration, a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Southeast Missouri State University and is a credentialed manager through the International City/County Management Association.
Wilson said working in Delavan was appealing to him because he’s familiar with the area after serving as administrator for the Town of Beloit. Wilson’s wife also spent a year teaching in the Delavan-Darien School District. He said he was looking to get back into this area and wanted to work for a bigger municipality after several years of working in the smaller Belleville.
He said he saw a lot of great things in Delavan, like the character of the downtown and some essential projects that intrigued him. The proposed expansion of Aram Public Library was one example. Wilson said he has experience with projects like that as Belleville was set to open its new library this week.
Wilson said he also has experience in attracting new housing from working in Belleville. He said the new construction rate in that municipality went up by 4% a year over the last few years and he heard from the community during the interview process that Delavan needs more housing.
During the interview process, Wilson said every part of Delavan had a small-town feel. He said the staff had a distinct, tight-knit family atmosphere and the common council seemed to have a lot of mutual respect among members with no overpowering egos at work. He said he has experience working with boards that were light on experience, which will be important coming to Delavan where the council has had so much turnover in the last year and looks to have more this spring as long-time Alderman Ron Henriott is not running for re-election.
“I look at it as a really positive sign,” Wilson said. “In a lot of communities, it can be difficult to find people to volunteer to serve on a council or committee, so to see that much involvement by the younger members of the community shows there is life in it.”
Wilson said he plans to sit down with Schroeder soon to discuss what the city’s top priorities are moving forward. He said he knows the proposed library expansion is getting closer to reality, there has been some preliminary discussion about a transportation utility and the city is moving toward establishing a new tax incremental district. Other items he mentioned include that there appear to be some prospects for new housing, and the city’s comprehensive plan calls for technology infrastructure improvements that, according to Wilson, could help attract younger workers who work from home to the community.
“There are a lot of neat things coming forward,” Wilson said.
Wilson said it was bittersweet leaving such a good community and staff in Belleville, but he believes he is trading it for another good community in Delavan.
“I am looking forward to getting started,” he said.
