Centralia’s new City Manager Scott Randall is already on the job.
After being approved unanimously by the city council and sworn in at a special meeting Tuesday night, Randall was at his desk at eight Wednesday morning. Randall moved in to his new house on the south side of Centralia over the weekend.
Randall shared some of his first thoughts about the city.
“Budgetary is going to be a big issue, but also economic development. Saw a lot of vacancies in the central business district seems like a lot of new development has been out on the perimeter, but you can’t lose your core. Finding what tools we have available to us and filling as many vacancies as we can. I also want to get a handle on the staffing situation.”
At the top of that list is the Centralia Police Department which is currently operating very short-staffed and four officers below authorization. Randall says trying to get officers to lateral transfer into the department could provide a quick solution.
Randall says he’s arriving at a time work is already underway on the city’s budget for the fiscal year beginning January first. He notes while the city’s revenue appears stable, there will have to be work on the expense side.
“There’s the legacy costs of exorbitant pension obligations. Centralia is not alone. Virtually every municipality in the state is that way and most around the country, but it’s just managing that. I would like to do a more long term prospective. Obviously you do annual budgeting but I would like to do a multi-year financial plan so the decision we make today, what can we afford to maintain.”
Randall isn’t ready to set goals just yet.
“It’s far too early to talk about goals. I want to take the next 6-8 weeks and have a strategic planning board retreat to give my findings and where I think we should be sending our resources. Find out if the board likes that and get my marching orders. But I would like to contribute to that process.”
Randall has moved to Centralia from Palm Springs, California where he was general manger of a large homeowners association around a golf course.
He says he was ready to get back into the role of city manager. Randall left his last city manager’s job in Superior, Colorado in 2010. He spent the first 20 years of his 40 year career in assistant city manager positions in Macomb and Normal and city manager of Lagrange and Streamwood in the Chicago suburbs.
One reason he had for wanting to return to the area are his three grown children and grandchildren who all live in the St. Louis area. Randall notes he can now travel 60 minutes to visit instead of a four hour plane trip. Randall not only became Centralia City Manager on Tuesday, he also became a grandfather for the fourth time.
