ITHACA, N.Y.—Longtime city official Deb Mohlenhoff is set to become Ithaca’s first City Manager on Jan. 1 after a 9-1 vote by the Common Council last week. Mohlenhoff will take over many of the administrative duties that have previously been held by the mayor, like drafting the yearly budget and overseeing city employees; meanwhile, the mayor’s role will become more focused on the legislative process.
The transition has been years in the making. Mohlenhoff, who has served in city government since 2009, was one of many city officials and leaders involved in laying the groundwork for the City Manager role.
As an alderperson in 2021, Mohlenhoff was one of four councilmembers to serve on a task force convened to rethink Ithaca’s executive leadership. She said there had been several other similar groups convened in years prior.
“There’s a long history of the city ‘baby stepping’ [towards] the concept of having a city manager form of government,” Mohlenhoff said. “It is not something that was initiated by me, it didn’t start with me, I was maybe the last iteration of three different iterations of analyzing this over several decades.
The memorandum produced by the 2021 task force included a draft “job description” for the future city manager. While the language used differs slightly, the finalized list of duties for the city manager is about 68% similar to the 2021 draft job description, per analysis by The Ithaca Voice. Notable additions include a requirement for the city manager to attend all Common Council meetings. The final document also requires the city manager to exercise greater oversight over the city’s financial recordkeeping.
The 2021 job description initially called for the city manager to develop and maintain more of the city’s formal operating procedures, have greater oversight over the city’s insurance policies and serve as final authority on Freedom of Information requests. These additional responsibilities were removed from the final job description.
In her capacity as city Chief of Staff, Mohlenhoff said she was involved in discussions finalizing the city manager’s responsibilities as late as May 2023. Mohlenhoff said that once she thought she might want to apply for the job, she chose to end her formal involvement in the planning process shortly after.
“I hadn’t made my decision at the time whether or not I was going to apply, but was incredibly concerned about the optics of it,” Mohlenhoff said. “So I backed away entirely from anything that was going on on the city side of doing the actual development of the implementation of the position.”
Ian Coyle, the consultant who served as the hiring manager for the role, said he felt the city approached the matter properly, putting up an “ethical wall” between Mohlenhoff and himself.
“It was made clear to me early on in the process that she might be a candidate,” Coyle said. “So there was the establishment of a set of norms and communication channels that, for me, went right to the mayor and council and had no involvement from the Chief of Staff.”
Coyle said that it is “not unheard of” for municipalities to settle on a relative insider as the best fit for a role like city manager, even after a nationwide search.
Mohlenhoff’s involvement in the planning process drew concern from some, like Alderperson Phoebe Brown, who was the sole member of Common Council to vote against the appointment last Wednesday.
Besides city manager, Ithaca is set to see a significant amount of turnover in the next few months, among both elected officials and city staff. Mohlenhoff said she’s planning her first few months in office around the turnover.
“There’s a lot of priorities right up front, [one of] which is rebuilding the leadership team of the city,” Mohlenhoff said. “We have some retirements, and some resignations that are going to be of significant impact to the city.”
Among appointed officials, there are three major departures set to occur in the first few months of the year: Director of Human Resources Schelley Michell Nunn, City Attorney Ari Lavine and City Controller Steven Thayer. As far as elected officials go, six out of ten incoming Common Councilmembers will be completely new to elected office.
“We do have so much change all at once,” Mohlenhoff said. “We’re going to be working with the department heads of the city to put together what I’m calling a ‘briefing book’ for incoming council members.”
Mohlenhoff said beyond the first few months, she wants to take advantage of her new oversight of the budget-making process to begin earlier and offer Common Council and the public more opportunities to weigh in on where the city puts its money.
“I would ultimately like to see a budget process that has a good level of public participation at multiple phases of the budget development, not just at the end, which is how we do it now,” Mohlenhoff said.
Currently, the city holds public hearings on the budget in the fall, after an initial draft budget is complete. Mohlenhoff said she wants to give the public opportunities to weigh in before the draft budget is complete, at set “milestones” throughout the year.
Mohlenhoff said she’s nervous but excited about the new role. Her current role as Chief of Staff to the mayor will cease to exist at the end of 2023.
“2024 is going to look and feel different. It may not look and feel very different to the public or to an outsider, but it will be, on both the government operation side and on the council and the mayor side,” Mohlenhoff said. “But everyone that I’ve talked to is really bringing the right attitude to the table in terms of yes, it’s a lot of change, but we see more opportunity too.”
Correction: A previous version of this story used the incorrect first name for Ithaca’s outgoing City Controller. His name is Steven Thayer, not Scott Thayer.
The following agenda packet from the Common Council’s July 12 meeting includes both the final job description for the city manager role and the 2021 draft job description.
If you appreciate our coverage, consider donating to The Ithaca Voice today. Your generous support allowed us to reach our November goal, and we want to keep going before the end of the year. Reader support is vital to our mission, and any contribution is meaningful. Thank you.
The post Incoming city manager is gearing up for “monumental change” next year appeared first on The Ithaca Voice.