Belleville mayor picks 7 new hires for city jobs, including 2 who lost election bids
(This article was updated at 5:10 p.m. with comments from Dean Hardt.)
Belleville Mayor Patty Gregory wants two people who lost their races in the April 6 election to join her new administration as top city officials.
The City Council will consider Gregory’s proposed appointments of former city Treasurer Dean Hardt, former alderman candidate Seth Miller and five others at its meeting Monday. Gregory submitted their names to aldermen on Saturday, her first day as mayor.
Gregory chose Hardt to serve as purchasing agent and risk management director after he lost his re-election campaign for treasurer to Sarah Biermann, one of the employees he used to supervise in that role.
The risk management director position is open, Gregory said. She added that Belleville does not have a person in charge of purchasing citywide, a position outlined in city ordinances.
Hardt served as treasurer from 2013 to 2021 and as Belleville alderman from 2011 to 2013.
He said he brings to the new role an “analytical thought process,” as well as a working knowledge of city operations and how to interact with other departments from his time in elected office.
“I’m thankful she thought highly enough of me to appoint me to the position,” Hardt said of Gregory. “... I’m just happy that I can continue serving the residents of Belleville in any capacity.”
Gregory picked Miller for the position of director of human resources and community development. He was a first-time candidate who lost the election for Ward 7 alderman to incumbent Dennis Weygandt.
The HR director position is open, and Belleville Public Library Director Leander Spearman is serving as interim director of community development, the city’s online directory states.
Miller said that when he lost the election for alderman, he was already looking for another way to get involved in the city of Belleville since he retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2020. He had worked as the superintendent of community support at Scott Air Force Base.
“I knew that no matter what I would still be involved because it’s who I am as an individual, so just because I did not win that position did not mean that I was going to stop. I did not even know about this position until the mayor-elect reached out to me,” Miller said of the HR and community development director job.
“Maybe Mrs. Gregory noticed something in me,” he said. “Forever grateful for that.”
Gregory’s other proposed appointments are:
- Scott Tyler, retiring firefighter and former Belleville alderman from 2015 to 2019, as director of health, housing and building. (Annissa McCaskill currently oversees the housing department as director of the residential and commercial development services. McCaskill was director of economic development, planning and zoning until 2019, when the city also put her in charge of housing as part of a pilot program to combine positions and cut personnel costs. Gregory’s proposal is to separate the departments again.)
- Belleville attorney Lloyd M. Cueto to replace Brian Flynn as assistant city attorney.
- Kathleen Kaiser, a marketing agency leader, to replace Jennifer Ferguson as communications director. Ferguson left the job in January.
- Gigi Dowling Urban, former education administrator, and Marilyn Vise, former journalist and communications manager, as new administrative liaisons to the mayor.
Gregory’s plan is to also replace McCaskill as economic development director and Ken Vaughn as director of maintenance and city buildings. Her recommendation is to leave those positions open until the city can advertise the jobs and select from the applicants.
There are other positions that Gregory is still evaluating, including police chief, assistant police chief, fire chief, deputy fire chief, city engineer and building commissioner. She said she made no recommendations to reappoint the existing employees or hire new people because she has not had a chance to talk to representatives from those departments about their personnel since her election.
Her suggestions are outlined in documents for the next City Council meeting, which were published Saturday afternoon on the city’s website.
Those documents are typically posted on Thursdays ahead of the city’s Monday night meetings, but Gregory said the city clerk made the decision to post them Saturday because that is when Gregory’s term officially started. Gregory said employees have been notified of her decision to not reappoint them.
Alderman questions of some of mayor’s proposals
Ward 8 Alderman Roger Wigginton said Saturday he was “perturbed” about the delayed release of information about the new appointments.
Wigginton also questioned the decision to hire two people who were recently rejected by a majority of voters and accused Gregory of filling jobs with friends instead of advertising the positions to other prospects.
“It smells of political cronyism. ‘What a great gig. You lose the election, and you get a $75,000 a year job,’” Wigginton said of what the public may think. “... You know the old adage, ‘Perception is reality.’”
Wigginton said that Seth Miller would make $75,000 a year as HR and community development director and that Dean Hardt would make $70,000 as purchasing agent and risk management director, based on salary information provided to aldermen.
Gregory cited Hardt’s eight years as treasurer and Miller’s bachelor’s degree in human resources among their qualifications for the jobs. She described Hardt as detail-oriented and honest and said that Miller is skilled at communicating and resolving conflicts.
Regarding Scott Tyler, another appointee, Wigginton said he does not “see the correlation” between Tyler’s experience firefighting and overseeing housing that would qualify him for the job Gregory suggested.
Gregory said she proposed Tyler for the role of director of health, housing and building, which also covers code enforcement, in part because he is familiar with building codes from working as a firefighter for 27 years.
“He is so dedicated to doing this job for the city he will be taking a pay cut to do it,” Gregory said of Tyler. “I think that speaks to his passion for the job.”
Gregory said she is excited about building a team of people with different backgrounds that will collaborate and take new approaches in the city.
“I’m looking for people that are very energetic, that are multi-talented, that have expertise in the fields that we’re actually putting these people in,” Gregory said of what she considered in new appointees generally. “... When you have change coming in, sometimes the change requires a different appointee because it’s a different vision.”
During the campaign for city treasurer, then-candidate Sarah Biermann, who previously handled collections and liens for customers who did not pay their sewer bills, said citizens told her they did not like the way Hardt talked to them or made them feel when he was treasurer. She said that members of other departments would call her rather than Hardt, her supervisor, because they did not want to speak with him.
Gregory said Saturday that has not been her experience with Hardt, who she has known for 35 years.
“I think it’s just the nature of politics and campaigns,” she said.
Gregory said those were personal opinions of Hardt and added that other citizens and many aldermen speak highly of him. She noted Hardt is active in the community as a volunteer.
“If you are a good volunteer you know how to work with a team,” Gregory said.
Hardt declined to comment on Biermann’s statements.
Biermann could not immediately be reached for further comment.
What would the new hires do for Belleville?
Gregory said one of her goal’s for Dean Hardt’s position — proposed purchasing agent and risk management director — is finding ways to save Belleville money when it makes purchases across city departments. And she raised the possibility of working with neighboring communities. Gregory said that could include buying items like salt for snowy roads in bulk with other cities, getting the larger quantities at a reduced price for each municipality.
Proposed HR and community development director Seth Miller’s responsibilities would include getting nonprofit organizations in the community more involved in Belleville, Gregory said. And she wants proposed communications director Kathleen Kaiser to help promote the nonprofits in newsletters for residents.
Gregory said her proposed administrative liaisons Gigi Dowling Urban and Marilyn Vise would work on the newsletters, too, highlighting city employees. Gregory also wants Vise involved in researching corporations that Belleville wants to attract for new economic developments in the city in preparation for proposals.
The mayor is hoping to increase new housing development as well through the proposed director of health, housing and building, with Scott Tyler in the role.
Gregory replaces longtime mayor Mark Eckert.
Miller said he feels humbled and excited about the possibility of being included in the new administration.
“I believe and I feel as though this is a part of history in that this is the first female mayor of the city, and that’s incredibly inspiring not only for me but for my daughter,” he said.
Miller said he and his 9-year-old daughter watched Gregory’s swearing-in on Friday. The new mayor asked Annette Eckert, the first female judge elected in the 20th Judicial Circuit, to administer the oath at the ceremony.
“She was just amazed,” Miller said of his daughter during the ceremony. “I could just see the excitement in her.”
This story was originally published May 2, 2021 at 1:38 PM.
