Jane Howington has had to make several tough decisions since taking over as Kalispell’s city manager in 2009. She made another one last week and it appears to be her last in Kalispell.
Howington announced she was resigning after two years to take the city manager position in Newport, R.I. Howington, who is currently on a rolling contract that extends from year to year, will remain in Kalispell through December before starting the Rhode Island job in January.
Mayor Tammi Fisher said the city would begin searching for an interim manager to fill the position during the search for Howington’s successor. Fisher would like to start by exploring locally and statewide for a replacement, but the search could expand nationwide if it comes to that.
“For me it will take as long as it takes,” Fisher said of the hiring process. “I don’t want to rush to judgment and fill her shoes with a warm body rather than finding somebody with the right amount of talent to run the city of Kalispell.”
Howington, who was hired in August 2009 after a nationwide search, first told city staff through an email on Nov. 10 she had accepted the Rhode Island position. The city officially announced the decision the next day.
“It was a difficult decision to make. When we moved out here we pretty much assumed this would be our home and we would be here for a long time,” she said. “Things happen. Plans change. My family felt we had a need to relocate. It’s a personal decision that required this.”
The Newport City Council offered Howington the position on Oct. 30 and will vote on her contract Dec. 14. Howington was offered a three-year contract paying $135,000 a year. As Kalispell’s highest paid city employee, she makes $112,500 a year here.
Newport Mayor Stephen C. Waluk said Howington was chosen from a field of 119 applicants because of her “experience and expertise in developing an efficient local government.”
“I’ve been on city council for 10 years and this is the third city manager selection process we’ve had. Through those three processes, she is the strongest candidate I’ve come across,” Waluk said. “I’m really excited and I know the rest of the city council is excited as well.”
Kalispell city officials appear less enthusiastic about Howington’s departure.
“From a personal perspective and from the mayor’s perspective, I hate to see her go,” Fisher said. “But I’m glad she was able to bring her talents to Kalispell for whatever amount of time.”
Fisher said she’s not completely surprised to see Howington leave, attributing that to the short tenure of most city managers across the state and country. Howington brought staff together, made tough decisions in a hard economy and as a result she can certainly leave town “very proud of her accomplishments,” Fisher said.
“It’s been a remarkable turnaround for Kalispell and most of that is attributable to Jane Howington,” Fisher said.
Although her time in Kalispell was brief, Howington tackled a number of difficult tasks, chiefly the city’s dire budget outlook. Under Howington, the city boosted its diminished cash reserve from $244,122 in 2009 to roughly $1 million in 2011. She also led a restructuring of city staff and consolidation of departments that was not always popular but “needed to be done,” she said. She was involved in reaching a contentious collective bargaining agreement that kept seven city firefighters from being laid off. A long-term rate program was implemented for the city’s utilities as a way to balance current and future costs.
Reflecting on her time in Kalispell, Howington describes her role as a “change agent.”
“Sometimes the city manager comes into a city and has to play the role of change agent, where you have to make a lot of changes fairly quickly and that does tend to reduce your ability for a long tenure in that environment,” she said.
“There are people that are still recovering from all the difficult decisions we’ve had to make,” she added. “It’s really set the building blocks in place for the city to be able to financially manage their staffing and their employees within the constraints of the taxes that we have coming in as revenue.”
City Councilor Kari Gabriel said Howington has raised the bar for future city managers in Kalispell, and leaves with an impressive legacy intact.
“The city can be very proud of all the work that has been accomplished since she’s been here. It has been no small task,” Gabriel said.
“I would have liked to see what else we could have worked to change. I think we could have accomplished a lot more.”
Howington, a native of Madison, Wis., was assistant city manager of operations for Dayton, Ohio for two years. She served as city manager in Oxford, Ohio from 2000-2007. Before that she lived in Massachusetts working in a variety of city planning positions.
“The last couple days were certainly difficult emotionally,” she said. “I’ve met so many people that have been so supportive and helped me be successful and helped the city be successful. But, it’s not me that’s done this. It’s the city and its citizens who have worked hard for the city. They just need to keep it up.”