MONROE — Matt Mardesen, Monroe city administrator, has been offered a job in the same capacity with the City of Nevada and will formally submit his resignation to the Monroe City Council Dec. 12.
Nevada City Council members voted unanimously Monday to approve Mardesen’s hire, and a spokesperson for Nevada City Hall confirmed on Thursday that both parties have signed paperwork agreeing to the hire.
The move is step up for Mardesen. He’ll join Nevada — a town with a population of 6,798 — at salary of $85,000 plus benefits. He leaves Monroe at $55,734.61 according to online city records.
His departure from Monroe follows a contentious effort by Mardesen and three city council members to broker a deal with Dollar General Crop. to transform a sporadically used green space near the downtown square — the former Madson Field baseball complex — into a DG retail outlet. The city council failed to reach the needed three-fourths majority in November to rezone the property commercial.
The source of property tax projections Mardesen presented to sway the council and public in favor of the project were publicly disputed, but the issue died with the project.
Mardesen was not available to comment on his new position by presstime on Friday, but the departing administrator also leaves behind a legacy of several accomplishments during his four years in Monroe.
The city has taken over and sold six nuisance/abatement properties during Mardesen’s tenure. He was also heavily involved in the development of a proposed recreational trail which will connect Monroe to Prairie City and, eventually, Mitchellville and the greater central Iowa trail system. Mardesen also helped secure new playground equipment for the Monroe Rec Park.
The administrator graduated from Drake University in 2010 with a master’s degree in public administration. Monroe was his first city administrator job, joining city hall in October 2012.
Mardesen will also be taking with him Big Oven Bakeshop, a mobile cookie bakery he started with wife Joni and their three sons. The cookie trailer has become a fixture at Monroe’s Bike Nights and Old Settlers.
Monroe Mayor Doug Duinink said in a phone interview Thursday the city council has discussed shifting the administrator duties to city clerk Kim Thomas for three to six months, as the need for a full-time administrator is evaluated. The topic was debated at a recent council workshop.
The town of 1,830 is in the process of going to a monthly billing cycle on water usage and hiring a water billing clerk to support the effort. Shifting this billing task away from Thomas, Duinink said, will free up time for her to complete duties traditionally performed by an administrator.
Thomas acted as interim city administrator for roughly one year before Mardesen’s hire and after the departure of former administrator Sandy Breckenridge.
“We’ll be able to see, after three to six months, if we definitely need to replace him or endure ourselves,” Duinink said. “For major projects our engineering firm will do 90 percent of the paperwork.”
The city council is expected to formally accept Mardesen’s resignation at its Dec. 12 regular meeting.
Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com