Pleasanton appoints Hegwald to interim administrator post

The Pleasanton City Council on Monday took the first step in hiring Becky Hegwald, right, as the new city administrator. In this photo she was being sworn in as city clerk by City administrator Teresa Whitaker last September. (Journal file photo)

PLEASANTON – The Pleasanton City Council on Monday, April 3, voted unanimously to hire City Clerk Becky Hegwald as interim city administrator. The intent of the council is that Hegwald will take over City Administrator Teresa Whitaker’s post when she leaves at the end of June.

The vote came after the council met with Hegwald in a 10-minute closed-door session on personnel matters followed by a five-minute executive session to discuss pay. The change in her position will come with a temporary raise to $22.50 per hour, and Hegwald and the council will negotiate her salary before she fully assumes the administrator’s post.

The action by the council follows a recommendation by Whitaker, who submitted her resignation letter last month Noting that Hegwald had more than 30 years experience as a city clerk, Whitaker said Hegwald would easily transition into the city administrator post.

In addition to Hegwald serving as city clerk for Pleasanton, she was city clerk of Yates Center, Kan., for 12 years and deputy city clerk for 20 years before that.

Whitaker rose to the city administrator post after serving as Pleasanton city clerk for several years.

In recommending Hegwald to succeed her, Whitaker said that when Hegwald was hired as city clerk at the end of last September, she quickly picked up on the workings of Pleasanton City Hall and even made suggestions that helped make improvements there.

The council did not post the position and interviewed no one besides Hegwald. Last month City Attorney Burton Harding advised the council neither of those actions was required by city ordinance.

The city is expected at some point to begin the search for a new city clerk.

In other personnel matters, the council voted to give Officer Ivan Squire with the city police department a $1 per hour raise and pay him half of his bonus for completing training at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center in Hutchison, Kan. Squire graduates from the academy this week.