City Hall  
City of La Crosse, Wisconsin  
400 La Crosse Street  
La Crosse, WI 54601  
Meeting Minutes - Final  
City Administrator Working Group  
Wednesday, April 23, 2025  
Call to Order  
12:00 PM  
Grandad Conference Room - City Hall  
The meeting was called to order by the Working Group Chair, Larry Sleznikow at 12:03  
p.m.  
Welcome  
Roll Call  
3 - Barb Janssen, Larry Sleznikow,Erin Goggin  
Present:  
Approval of Minutes  
A motion was made by Janssen, seconded by Goggin, to APPROVE the  
minutes of April 9, 2025. The motion carried unanimously.  
Agenda Items:  
Thanks were given to the members of the City Administrator Working Group including  
CM Janssen and CM Goggin and former Working Group members and former city  
council members Mac Kiel and Mark Neumann, Director of Human Resources Rebecca  
Franzen, Nikki Elsen and Sondra Craig in the City Clerk’s Office, City Department  
Heads, and Daniel Foth, JD, Director, Certified Public Manager Program and Local  
Government Specialist, Local Government Education at University of  
Wisconsin-Madison Extension.  
This meeting of the City Administrator Working Group will be the summary of the  
working group’s work since it started meeting in December 2024. It will include an  
overview of the draft city administrator information paper created by Daniel Foth in  
collaboration with the working group.  
Mr. Foth will also present a public engagement plan for providing information to and  
receiving feedback from community members related to the possibility of hiring a city  
administrator.  
Daniel Foth, JD, Director, Certified Public Manager Program and Local Government  
Specialist, Local Government Education at University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension  
joined the meeting in person and provided another overview of the document he created  
for the working group members titled Draft 4-7-25 City of La Crosse - Mayor vs. City  
Administrator Information Paper including updates from the April 9th meeting.  
Mr. Foth also provided an overview of the 4-21-25 DRAFT One Pager, a concise  
summary of the information paper, and DRAFT Public Engagement Outline - La  
Crosse 4-21-25 document outlining a suggested framework for public engagement  
about hiring a city administrator.  
Proposed City Administrator position.  
24-1585  
A motion was made by Janssen, seconded by Goggin and unanimously  
approved to recommend that J&A and the Common Council refer 24-1287  
(Charter Ordinance to create position of City Administrator) until the February  
2026 council cycle.  
The motion allowed for refilling the two open working group positions as was  
done originally. Once the working group is back to five members, the City  
Administrator Working Group will continue the work it has started with the  
assistance of city staff including engaging the public about the hiring of a city  
administrator.  
Sleznikow will work with the Legal Department to develop a resolution for the  
motion and request that the Mayor short-circuit the resolution (see File  
25-0502).  
Adjournment  
Meeting was adjourned at 1:22 p.m.