Administrator finalists to meet residents Friday

Grafton residents will get a chance on Friday to meet the four candidates who are finalists for the job of village administrator.

The village will host a meet-and-greet session with the candidates — Scott Feldt, executive director of Bug Tussel Wireless/Hilbert Communications; Ruth Kedzior, senior administrative manager of Metro Water Recovery in Denver; Tim Wellnitz, administrator of the Town of Beloit; and Brian Wilson, administrator of the City of Delavan — their significant others, officials and department heads from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Zaun Pavilion in Lime Kiln Park.

Village President Dan Delorit will welcome those attending, then the candidates will be asked to introduce themselves.

After that, those attending will break into four groups. The candidates will start these small-group discussions by asking a question or two about the community, then answer questions posed by those in the group.

After 20 minutes, the candidates will move to the next group, where the process will continue until everyone has met with all the finalists.

The sessions will be facilitated by Sue McDade and Kevin Brunner of Public Administration Associates of Whitewater, the village’s recruitment consultant.

The Village Board will meet in closed session to interview the candidates.

The village is working to find a successor to longtime Administrator Jesse Thyes, who left on Aug. 5 to become administrator of the City of West Bend.

Officials said 60 people from around the country applied for the job, 32 of whom met the qualifications for the job set by the village.

In October, the Village Board pared the list of candidates to nine, and last week it selected the four finalists.

They are:

• Feldt earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988 and a master of public administration and policy degree from UW-Madison’s Robert LaFollette Institute of Public Administration and Policy in 1994.

He served as vice president of government relations for Forward Janesville from 2002 to 2004, then became executive director of Mahaska Community Development Group in Oskaloosa, Iowa, from 2005 to 2007. He was director of economic development for the City of East Moline, Ill., from 2008 to 2010 and an instructor of economics at Lakeland College’s Madison and Milwaukee centers.

Feldt served as Wisconsin’s deputy state treasurer from 2011 to 2015, and Kewaunee County administrator from 2015 to 2023, when he joined Bug Tussel Wireless.

He also served on the Janesville School Board from 2011 to 2014 and the Rock County Board from 1997 to 2004.

• Kedzior earned a bachelor of arts degree in international relations from Michigan State University in 1988 and a master of public administration degree from the University of Colorado in Denver in 1998.

She was communications coordinator for Colorado Counties Inc. from 1996 to 2000, then assistant county manager for Adams County Government in Brighton, Colo., from 2000 to 2014. She served as a consultant in Denver from 2014 to 2016, when she became executive director of the Colorado School Nutrition Association, where she served until 2018.

She has been with Metro Water Recovery in Denver since 2018.

• Wellnitz earned his bachelor of science degree in public policy and administration at UW-Whitewater in 2000 and a law degree from Southern Illinois University School of Law in 2003. He graduated from the Wisconsin certified public manager program at UW-Madison in 2011.

After serving internships in the Jefferson County district attorney’s office and Gov. Jim Doyle’s office, he was a messenger in the Wisconsin State Senate in 2004, then served as an agency liaison for Doyle’s office from 2004 to 2005.

He was a member of the Janesville City Council from 2003 to 2008 and bureau director for the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing from 2005 to 2008. He served as assistant city attorney for the City of Janesville from 2008 to 2021 and was named Town of Beloit administrator in 2021 .

• Wilson earned a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice from Southeast Missouri State University in 1991 and a master of science degree in administration from the school in 1999. He has been designated a credentialed manager by the International City and County Management Association since 2015.

After working as a liquor control officer for the Excise Division of the City of St. Louis, Mo., from 1996 to 2000, he served as a neighborhood specialist for the Community Development Department in St. Louis  from 2000 to 2006. He was a disaster recovery administrator for the City of Caruthersville, Mo., from 2006 to 2007.

He served as administrator of the City of Milan, Mo., from 2008 to 2012, administrator of the Town of Beloit from 2012 to 2015 and village administrator of Belleville from 2016 to 2021. He has been Delavan’s city administrator since 2021.