Grafton finds administrator ­­— at least for now

Jessica Wolff was named the Village of Grafton’s acting village administrator effective Aug. 6 by the Village Board Monday.

Wolff will take over for current Administrator Jesse Thyes, who has been with the village since 2016 and is leaving the village to assume the same role in West Bend on Aug. 5.

Wolff was appointed Grafton’s director of planning and development on Nov. 1, 2013, and in 2018 was named community development director.

In April 2023, she was named assistant village administrator/community development director. That, Village President Dan Delorit said, was in anticipation that there would be times when the village needed a backup for Thyes.

Before joining the village, Wolff was a planning consultant at Vandewalle & Associates in Madison, where she focused on comprehensive planning, public participation, grant funding applications and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping. 

“She’s very qualified,” Delorit said. “I have a lot of faith in her to do this interim job.”

The village is negotiating compensation for the extra duties Wolff will take on as part of the job, he added.

In June, Thyes was hired by West Bend as its new administrator, and earlier this month the village decided to hire a recruitment firm to seek his successor.  

“We (the Village Board) are certainly hopeful Jessica will apply,” Delorit said, adding the village received numerous letters supporting her for the post and two people who appeared at Monday’s meeting also spoke in support of Wolff.

Among those, Delorit said, were developers who said  “she’s tough to deal with but she’s fair.”

Officials decided it was prudent to look not only internally but outside the community for its next administrator. 

“I believe the village trustees would like to make sure we get the best candidate, and that’s why they recommended hiring a recruitment firm,” Delorit said.

Delorit said Tuesday that the board will hear presentations by two firms — Public Administration Associated of Whitewater and MGT Recruiting Solutions of Florida — when it meets on Aug. 4, then meet in closed session to determine which it will hire to find Thyes’ successor.

Delorit noted that Port Washington used PAA when it hired its administrator and West Bend used MGT in its search.

The recruitment process typically takes 12 to 16 weeks, he said, noting it involves obtaining input from the village and listening sessions with the public.

“The important thing, we believe, is these folks should have time to present their credentials to the public,” Delorit said.

Once the Village Board decides on an administrator, he added, they typically need to give 30 to 45 days notice to the community where they currently work.

“We could be looking at up to 24 weeks (to replace Thyes),” he said.

One complicating factor is the fact the village is in the midst of budget preparations, Delorit noted.

“It’s not a great time to push for a resolution of staffing,” he said.

Thyes, Delorit said, did a good job for Grafton since being hired in 2016.

“Jesse brought so many years of experience. For him to be in the position for 10 years was very good for the village,” Delorit said. “He did a lot of good things for the village. Now we have to look at what the future will bring.”