Earlier this week, the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce came out with an endorsement of a City Administrator for La Crosse.  

Chamber CEO Sam Scinta spoke on La Crosse Talk Thursday morning with Sean Dwyer about the position and what it means to the business community.  

They held a forum on Monday for chamber members featuring two current City Administrators, one from Onalaska and one from Viroqua.  

Both were asked about the challenges and success they’ve encountered in their respective positions. 

In the conversation Thursday, Scinta was asked about some of the topics that came up at the forum including what La Crosse was proposing for a salary for a City Administrator.  

Scinta talked about how the salary of approximately $248,000 a year with benefits seemed high, he said the position pays for itself pretty quickly through efficiencies in government.  

What you’re achieving immediately is some of those operational savings with this position. And a lot of studies that have looked at this have shown, and we talked about this a lot on Monday, that yes, this is a pricey position, but it is also achieving a lot of savings for these communities.” 

Another advantage that Scinta pointed out is that an administrator can ensure continuity as council members or mayors come and go.  

He did point out that both administrators noted that every community needs to decide what works best for their community as every location is different.  

Lastly, he brought up that there are many communities in Wisconsin with City Administrators that can offer La Crosse information on what to do or the type of person to hire.  

“Let’s tap that knowledge base and ask other communities, ‘What criteria were you looking for? What criteria did you go in thinking was important that maybe wasn’t as important? What criteria do you wish you maybe made more important in this process?’” 

La Crosse’s City Council is expected to vote on whether to establish a City Administrator position during February’s meeting.