OSHKOSH – For the first time in more than 16 years, Oshkosh is welcoming a new city manager.
What should the city know about the person hired to replace the retiring Mark Rohloff?
Currently, Rebecca Grill serves as the City Administrator/City Clerk for the City of West Allis. She has more than 25 years of experience in local government, having previously worked for the City of Milwaukee for 17 years.
Grill is also a Credentialed Manager and a University of Wisconsin-Madison Certified Public Manager with a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Concordia University.
The Northwestern recently had a brief question and answer session with the new city manager before her first day on the job on February 24.
This is what she had to say:
Why did you want the Oshkosh city manager position?
To be honest, I didn’t go looking for this. Someone contacted me and said I should check this out because it would be perfect for me.
So I looked into this and researched what they were looking for and I found that it was a really good fit for me.
There are many fantastic opportunities that align with my experience at West Allis, so I decided to go through the application process.
You were named a finalist for a month before you were finally hired. Were you ever worried that Oshkosh would go in a different direction?
I wasn’t really nervous because I know these things take time and they had to make sure the person they hired was a good fit for them. It took over seven months before I was hired for the job in West Allis.
And I didn’t have time to worry about it since I had a little election thing going on.
More Oshkosh news: Retiring Oshkosh City Manager Mark Rohloff accepts a job with Neenah’s McMahon Associates
What is your first priority in the position?
I need to learn more about the community and our organization. I need to know what we have there as our strengths and resources.
I also got to get to know our employees and the vibrant community organizations and the exciting opportunities to work with them. I don’t want to sound cliché, but it’s about getting to know the situation of the country.
Is it intimidating to follow someone with as much experience as Mark Rohloff, who spent 16 years in the role?
In my current job I followed a man by over 30 years, so I’m familiar with trying to fill big shoes. He was very loved, just like Mark.
Obviously I’m not the same as Mark, so I know I’ll do things differently, but you won’t know until you start the work. I have researched all aspects of Oshkosh and the role, but again, I won’t know until I start the work.
I can say that I am very much into technology and using it to make things more efficient. So that will be part of my focus, maximizing the use of technology and using it to make things more efficient for citizens.
What would you like Oshkosh to know about you, aside from your qualifications and experience?
I think my personality is reflected in the work I do. I’m very diligent and hardworking and I dig in. I am very excited to work with citizens and want them to feel comfortable sharing their information and ideas.
Of course, I am more than willing to do that after February 24 because I want to finish strong in West Allis.
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Meet Oshkosh’s new City Manager Rebecca Grill.
