Terry Traver
Scandia Reporter
At a special meeting held Tuesday, Oct. 27, the Scandia City Council approved hiring Neil Soltis as city administrator.
The start date for Soltis will be Nov. 23 with an annual salary of $79,364. The new administrator’s past four years of employment have been as the finance officer for Hudson, Wisconsin.
Previously, he was the city administrator of Osceola, Wisconsin, for nine years and had 15 years of service for Shaker Heights, Ohio.
“I am looking forward to getting out and meeting people,” Soltis said. “It will be fun.”
Scandia had contracted with Waters and Company, an executive recruitment firm, to find candidates for the administrator position. This is the third time the city has used Waters and Co. and recruiter Sharon Klumpp to hire a city administrator, according to Scandia Deputy Clerk Brenda Eklund. The city and Soltis agreed to an open-ended contract, which means there is no end date and the contract remains open unless it is changed by termination or quitting.
Soltis will replace Kristina Handt, who has been the city administrator for more than three years. Handt originally offered her resignation on June 16 in order to stay home and take care of her newborn child. She will stay on into December to aid Soltis’ transition.