Morgan Hill City Manager Steve Rymer was selected as the Rochester, Minn. City Council’s top choice to fill their city administrator position, according to news reports.
Rymer, a native of Minnesota who has worked for the City of Morgan Hill since 2006, was selected for Rochester’s top staff position by a unanimous vote of the council July 24, according to a report from the Rochester Post Bulletin. Rymer and the council will be negotiating his salary and employment agreement this week, with the Rochester City Council expected to approve a deal by July 31.
Rymer was appointed as Morgan Hill City Manager in 2013, when the city and state of California were in the midst of liquidating the Redevelopment Agency, which the governor shut down in 2011. Resulting from that process was the development and revitalization of downtown Morgan Hill, which was funded by $25 million in leftover RDA funds that the city was able to keep through negotiations with the state.
Mayor Steve Tate said the council will discuss how to go about replacing Rymer in the coming days, perhaps by calling a special meeting.
Tate praised Rymer—who has received glowing annual reviews and a number of salary raises from the Morgan Hill council over the years—for his ability to rally others to join the city’s efforts and for being accessible to his staff and the public.
“He has built a really phenomenal team that is doing fantastic work,” Tate said. “There is a lot of team spirit, a lot of dedication to moving the city forward. Steve is the cause of all that. He’s also been very out in the community, made himself available to anybody that wants to come talk to him. He has set a very high level of performance.”
Other high-profile initiatives Rymer oversaw as city manager in Morgan Hill include an update of the General Plan, a voter-approved extension of the city’s growth control measures and the effort—which couldn’t gain the approval of county regulators—to develop the Southeast Quadrant with more sports- and recreation-related uses.
Chamber of Commerce Executive Director John Horner said he is a “big fan” of Rymer’s and the business community will miss him. Horner also gave high marks to Rymer for his openness and willingness to talk to anyone about “issues, concerns and ideas.”
Horner added that moving forward, he would like to see the council appoint someone internally from City Hall to replace Rymer. Also importantly, the new city manager should have a deep understanding of the Morgan Hill community.
“I think continuity, in general, would be positive,” Horner said. “It’s very important that (the new city manager) is somebody that understands the concerns of building a balanced community with housing, jobs (and) public safety.”
Rymer’s current salary is about $248,000 in Morgan Hill. In 2014, the council offered Rymer, a Morgan Hill resident, a low-interest $950,000 home loan, plus a $110,000 home improvement loan in 2015.
In Rochester, Rymer’s maximum salary as city administrator will be capped by Minnesota state law at about $173,000, according to the Post Bulletin report.
Rochester, which is located about 80 miles southeast of Minneapolis, has a population of about 107,000.
The Rochester City Council selected Rymer after a nationwide recruitment process, according to the Post Bulletin. He and two finalists were interviewed by the council in public earlier this month.
