Citizen Portal
Sign In

Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!

Mayor's late-announced personnel shuffle prompts council referral and criticism

Alliance City Council · December 15, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Mayor Grove announced a reorganization naming Blaine Lewis as Safety Service Director (designate) and moving Mike Dreger to oversee utilities; council members questioned timeliness, posting and pay, and referred the plan to Finance and Safety & Judiciary committees for review.

Mayor Grove told the Alliance City Council on Dec. 15 that he has reorganized utility and safety-service responsibilities, naming Blaine Lewis as the new Safety Service Director (designate) and moving Mike Dreger to lead the city's four water departments, saying the two appointees bring "79 years of experience" to the operation. The plan, the mayor said, is intended to consolidate oversight of Water Distribution, Water Treatment, Wastewater Treatment and Water Billing and to free the Safety Service Director to focus on the remaining city departments.

Council members raised repeated procedural and substantive concerns about how the personnel changes were announced. Councilwoman Sheila Cherry and Councilwoman Jennifer Kiko…

Already have an account? Log in

Subscribe to keep reading

Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.

  • Unlimited articles
  • AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
  • Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
  • Follow topics and more locations
  • 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
30-day money-back on paid plans