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Watertown council unanimously hires Alan Stager as city manager after national search
Summary
After a months‑long national search conducted with Robert Half Group and a local succession planning committee, the council appointed Alan Stager as city manager and approved his contract by roll call vote.
The Watertown City Council voted unanimously to hire Alan Stager as the city’s next city manager and approved his employment agreement.
The appointment follows a months‑long search that drew several hundred applications and a multi‑stage review process led by the recruitment firm Robert Half Group and a local succession planning committee. Council members said they were unanimous in selecting Stager from three finalists.
Mayor Hollien described the search process and the committee that screened applicants, saying the succession planning committee reviewed about 250 candidates and reduced that pool to about 90 for further consideration before forwarding five candidates and then three finalists to council. Committee members named in the meeting included Rob Peterson, Joy Nelson, Scott Munger, Liam Culhane, Chris Carter and Amber Dahl, with council liaison Kyle Peters.
Stager, who has lived in Watertown since 2002, told the council he did not lobby council members during the process and said he is ready to lead the municipal staff. The mayor and council highlighted elements of Stager’s private‑sector management background: at times he oversaw up to about 1,400 employees and participated in developing and implementing budgets exceeding $1 billion in corporate settings. The mayor said the council sought “a person with a private sector head with the heart of a public servant.”
Stager told the council, “Hiring a city manager or planning our vision for the future, is how we're going to win against all of the other cities in the Midwest that we compete against.” He also said he looks forward to supporting city staff and building on the midterm review committee’s recommendations.
The motion to hire Stager was made by Councilman Tupper and seconded by Councilman Bealer. Interim City Manager Bob Zien called the roll; Councilmembers Jerns, Peters, Shutti, Tupper, Bueller and Hollien voted aye, Danforth was absent, and the motion carried.
Council members thanked interim staff and the review committees for their work during the recruitment. The council instructed staff to finalize the city manager contract and onboarding steps.
