HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-19-17 Public Comment - R. Wall - City Manager Letter of Recommendation, Kessel
www.eli-mt.com info@eli-mt.com
September 19, 2017
City Commission
City of Bozeman
121 N. Rouse Ave.
Bozeman, MT 59715
Re: Letter of Recommendation for Shawn Kessel
Honorable City Commissioners:
I am writing to provide this letter of recommendation for Shawn Kessel. I know you are engaged in the
difficult process of selecting a new city manager, and I thought it would be helpful to provide you with
my insight.
I was the Municipal Group Leader for the Dickinson, North Dakota office of KLJ Engineering from 2013
to 2015. KLJ has a long history with Dickinson, and was the consultant doing the vast majority of the
engineering projects for the city. As the Municipal Group leader, I oversaw 20 – 30 projects valuing
tens of millions of dollars. Mr. Kessel was my main point of contact with the city, and I worked very
closely with him during my tenure in Dickinson.
Mr. Kessel’s business and management acumen were only surpassed by his values-based, visionary
leadership for the City of Dickinson. His masterful interaction with the citizens and stakeholders, the
City and Planning Commissions, and the state funding agencies resulted in the City’s ability to
significantly improve the quality of life in the community through progressive planning, funding, and
construction of massive infrastructure projects to accommodate the rapid growth in North Dakota.
Bozeman has robust growth, no doubt, but at the time, the growth in Dickinson was fervent.
I recall the narrative about North Dakota generated by the media and from those on the outside
looking in. The only way to understand the culture and the society in North Dakota was to work and
live there as I did. Indeed, the values in Dickinson were conservative. The City of Dickinson was
extremely fortunate to have a conservative, yet progressive businessman as its Mayor. What
impressed me about Mr. Kessel was his personal values were outwardly focused on how he could best
serve the City. In fact, I realized I didn’t, and still don’t know his political ideology or cultural beliefs, it
just wasn’t important, we had bigger fish to fry.
What was important was Mr. Kessel’s dedication and high effectiveness as City Manager, and our
ability to work in partnership to leverage our professional skills to improve the quality of life for the
citizens of Dickinson.
I have worked with many City Managers in my 35-year Civil Engineering career. My experience
working with Mr. Kessel was nothing short of extraordinary. Being a highly involved and active citizen
of the City of Bozeman, I believe Mr. Kessel would be an excellent fit for the City, and I give him my
highest recommendation.
www.eli-mt.com info@eli-mt.com
Thank you for your service to the City of Bozeman. Please do not hesitate to call me at (406) 599-3794
if you should have any questions.
Sincerely,
Randy P. Wall, PE, MPA
President