John Fitzpatrick Named Assistant City Manager

City Manager Mark Rohloff has just informed the Mayor and City Council (see the letter below) that he is designating Director of Administrative Services John Fitzpatrick as Assistant City Manager. As most of you will recall, John served as acting City Manager after the retirement of Dick Wollangk and was widely praised for his performance.

From the tone of the letter, it appears as if Mr. Rohloff plans to ask Mr. Fitzpatrick to perform duties that a Deputy Mayor might perform in a strong mayor form of government. The team of Rohloff/Fitzpatrick will never have to face the voters, but I guess they will have to keep at least four city councilors happy. That's democracy in Oshkosh.

Here's Mr. Rohloff's letter:

I am pleased to announce that I am designating Director of Administrative Services John Fitzpatrick as Assistant City Manager. As a result of this appointment, Mr. Fitzpatrick's title will be "Assistant City Manager/Director of Administrative Services". As you may be aware, Section 2-22 of the city's Municipal Code, provides that the City Manager may designate a person to perform the duties of City Manager during a temporary absence or disability of the City Manager. I believe that for an organization the size of Oshkosh, the designation of an Assistant City Manager goes beyond simply designating somone for purposes of absence or disability. My goal is to utilize Mr. Fitzpatrick's skills to assist me in both community and organizational outreach. With the many initiatives that I am proposing on the horizon, including customer service, communications, sustainability, economic development and financial issues, I believe that an Assistant City Manager will enable me to reach out and address all of these areas in a more timely fashion.

I will be updating the organizational chart to reflect this new title for Mr. Fitzpatrick. However, the organizational chart will not change in that all department heads will continue to report directly to me. Mr. Fitzpatrick will serve as my official representative when I am unable to attend meetings or otherwise provide input. I spoke with department heads at this week's staff meeting and they understand the purpose of this position.

I wanted to make the City Council aware of this appointment so that you can anticipate that this will be included in the formal organizational structure in the 2009 budget. I believe that Mr. Fitzpatrick's nearly ten years of service as Personnel Director and Director of Administrative Services, along with his service as Acting City Manager, makes him an appropriate choice to be my Assistant City Manager. I hope you will join me in congratulating John on his additional duties and responsibilities. If you have any questions regarding this appointment, please do not hesitate to contact me.