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The Bellevue City Council approved a six-month extension of services with Athenian Partners CEO Troy Butzlaff Monday to help out with city operations, assessments and ongoing challenges due to a staffing shortage.
Butzlaff is a veteran municipal government professional who has worked in several capacities for seven different western cities over the last 32 years. He was hired by Bellevue Mayor Kathryn Goldman in August to conduct an organizational assessment and staffing study for the city.
Soon after taking the job, Bellevue faced the imminent departure of a sewer facility operator. Butzlaff found a replacement by contracting out the work with a private firm. He later found a contractor to supply the city with snow removal services when a staffing shortage limited its capacity.
“We had to scramble to find a contractor,” Butzlaff said in an interview from his home in Tetonia, Idaho. “All cities in Idaho are having a hard time hiring for these public works positions."
The contract signed Monday formalizes Butzlaff’s ongoing duties, which now also includes employee recruitment services and municipal clerk services to support City Clerk/Treasurer Marian Edwards.
“Troy’s persistence has allowed us to improve the city’s professionalism, and there is more to be done,” Goldman said.
Butzlaff’s wife, Anna Grandys, a former city clerk for Indian Wells, California, has been taking notes and writing the minutes of Bellevue City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission meetings in recent weeks.
Butzlaff and Grandys are earning $35 and $25 per hour, respectively.
Troy Butzlaff CEO, Athenian Partners
Courtesy photo
“While my standard billing rate for cities in California has been $115 an hour, plus expenses, I recognize that this rate is beyond what most rural Idaho cities can afford,” Butzlaff wrote in a memo to the city.
Butzlaff, who also serves as a Teton County Joint Housing Authority commissioner, said he will making recommendations to the city council for potential changes in staffing and other operational changes.
His immediate priorities include finding snow removal equipment for next winter, before diving into street work contracts, including design and engineering processes.
“‘I do this as a passion,” Butzlaff said. “I want to help small rural communities to get the best help that they can.”
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2nd Street, East Bellevue, the PosterBoy for its continued failures.
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