UPDATE: Stoughton City Clerk Tabbed for Brookfield Post

Updated (5:25 p.m.): Mayor Steve Ponto is recommending that Kelly Michaels, a Waukesha native and Stoughton's city clerk / personnel director, be appointed to replace Brookfield City Clerk Kristine Schmidt.

Ponto will seek Common Council confirmation Tuesday of the appointment of Michaels to lead the city clerk's office. 

Michaels, a 1980 graduate of , has more than 20 years experience as a city clerk and deputy city clerk in Wausau. She served as a Wausau County Board supervisor from April 2004 to December 2009 when she moved out of the district.

Michaels has a bachelor's of science degree in business management from Upper Iowa University in 2000. She also has earned municipal clerk certifications from Wisconsin and the International Institute of Municipal Clerks.  

Ponto said all three finalists were outstanding, highly qualified candidates.

The other two finalists were Jennifer Goergen, Greenfield city clerk and former Oconomowoc deputy city clerk, and Anna Kettlewell, office administrator for the executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and former Hales Corners deputy village clerk. 

"We were really pleased with the very, very strong field of candidates," Ponto said. "We think that Kelly Michaels will do a great job. She impressed all the people who interviewed her. We're really looking forward to having her as part of the team."

Brookfield Human Resources Director Jim Zwerlein agreed the applications were very competitive. "It was a difficult decision to make," he said. "All three were exceedingly well-qualified and Kelly came out on top."

What set her apart, he said, was "her experience in a similarly sized community over the course of 20 years of service."

Zwerlein said Michaels, who interviewed with Ponto and City Attorney Karen Flaherty who supervises the city clerk's office, demonstrated strong leadership and communications skills. "Kelly just had more of the complete package," he said.

She also interviewed with other city department heads and staff before Ponto made his recommendation.

Michaels could not be reached Friday.

In her application for the Brookfield job, she said, "I live by my core values which include respect, honesty, integrity, hard work and optimism."

She said while overseeing elections "I perform my duties with a neutral political presence.

"I believe that maintaining the highest integrity in the election process involves many aspects, including careful planning and preparation, ongoing training, solid working relationships and good public relations skills," she added.

Michaels told the Stoughton Courier Hub that she was interested in returning to the Waukesha area where her mother lives. 

She worked for 21 years for the City of Wausau, which has a population similar to Brookfield of more than 38,000. She served first as deputy city clerk from 1989 to 2001, then as city clerk from 2001 until January 2011 when she took a job as city clerk / personnel director for the City of Stoughton, a Dane County community of about 12,000.

Brookfield received 44 applications for its city clerk position that opened when longtime clerk Kristine  last month.

Michaels will start Oct. 3 with an annual salary of $68,000.