Strong Candidate Field for City Clerk Narrowed to 12

An exceptionally strong field of candidates applied for the Brookfield city clerk's post being vacated by Kristine Schmidt's retirement, and 44 applicants have been narrowed to a dozen, a city official said Friday.

Those 12 candidates will be interviewed behind closed doors next week, after which three finalists will be publicly named and forwarded to the mayor for consideration.

"Our hope is to have a mayoral nominee for city clerk at the Common Council's first meeting in September," said James Zwerlein, city human resources director. 

Zwerlein said he was pleasantly surprised by the depth of candidates for the division head position that handles, among other things, the city's elections.

"We received an extremely well-qualified group of individuals," Zwerlein said. "There were very few who didn't meet the minimum requirements. We're very pleased with the results of the recruitment at this stage."

Schmidt is retiring Aug. 19 after 16 years as city clerk. She previously served as a city alderwoman for nine years after an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 1984.

Zwerlein said with the exception of one candidate from Illinois, all applicants were from Wisconsin. Two were current City of Brookfield employees. About one-third were either current city or village clerks elsewhere or performing government jobs with similar qualifications, he said. A number of attorneys also applied. 

"We have some very well-credentialed people," he said.

The city created a screening panel that whittled the stack to a dozen, who all agreed to be interviewed at closed sessions Aug. 12 and 13.

The screen panel members were three department heads and a human resources department representative: Robert Scott, city finance director; Bill Kolstad, city park, recreation and forestry director, Charlie Myers, city fire chief; and Ann Harvancik, city heath and productivity manager.

Zwerlein and City Attorney Karen Flaherty said the identity of the 44 applicants and the narrowed dozen can not be released according to state laws protecting candidates' job search activity from being divulged to their existing employers. 

They would not say whether Ald. Lisa Mellone was in the narrowed dozen and she could not be immediately reached Friday. Mellone announced last week she had resigned her aldermanic post in order to run for the city clerk job.

Zwerlein said the mayor might be in position to recommend a city clerk nominee for Common Council confirmation at the council's Sept. 6 meeting.