MOLINE, Ill. — Moline Mayor-Elect Sangeetha Rayapati says the city can expect the long-awaited City Administrator position to be filled within her first 100 days in office. It will be Moline's fifth administrator in just as many years.
It was announced that a pool of five candidates had been chosen for final interviews at the end of March, and now Rayapati says the ultimate decision can be expected in just a few weeks of her taking office.
"This week and next week I'll be participating in some one-on-one meetings with the finalists. So I anticipate an early close to that process- early into my first 100 days," said Rayapati.
The city has been looking for a new administrator since 2019, when Lew Steinbrecher resigned after only a few months with Moline. Since then, Marty Vanags has been the interim administrator. Vanags did spend a week in November 2020 on unpaid leave after there were complaints he created a hostile work environment and made inappropriate sexual comments. His 12-month contract with Moline expires in May.
Rayapati will be sworn into office on Tuesday, April 27 at a Moline city council meeting. She'll be joined by the city's four new aldermen, Alvaro Macias, Pat O'Brien, James Patrick Schmidt and Matt Timion.
In order to allow a crowd in for the event, the meeting has been moved from City Hall to Moline High School. It will be at 6pm in the Bartlett Performing Arts Center, and the new councilmembers will make their oaths at the very end of the night's meeting.
Beyond filling the city administrator role, Rayapati says she's focused on strengthening accessibility between elected officials and citizens, and tackling infrastructure issues throughout the city during her first 100 days in office.