By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Two veteran municipal employees will receive a temporary boost in pay as they oversee operations within their respective departments.
After meeting behind closed doors to discuss the issue, the Common Council on Dec. 20 voted unanimously in favor of a plan to offer $700 monthly stipends on top of existing salaries to Karen Dieter, finance support services manager, and Michelle Dujardin, recreation and community events programmer.
On an interim basis, Dieter and Dujardin will lead the finance and parks and recreation departments, respectively, as a search for permanent candidates gets underway in the new year. (See related story in this week’s issue of the Register.)
City Manager Cameron Clapper said Dieter and Dujardin — each mid-level managers in their departments — were well suited to assume the interim titles.
“They’ll be performing a great deal of labor for those two positions,” he said.
Tentatively, Clapper said he anticipates Dieter and Dujardin assuming the responsibilities for three months, though that timeline remains fluid as the city begins its recruiting for the director posts in the finance and parks and recreation departments.
Matt Amundson, former parks and recreation director, left the city in November after being hired by the City of Middleton to lead its public lands, recreation and forestry department.
Long-term, Amundson’s former position could be amended amid a potential reshuffling of responsibilities within the departments.
Amundson’s duties included tasks that fell outside the position, including oversight of municipal buildings.
Doug Saubert, the city’s longtime finance director, stepped down late last month after announcing plans of retiring.
