While there has been no recent discussion of filling the city administrator vacancy left by Vicky Rudy, Rollingwood City Council members voted unanimously to partially reorganize the staff to acknowledge recently increased responsibility.

“Since Vicky left, we have have slowly but surely increased the responsibility [of the communications director position] and Robyn [Ryan] has reacted admirably,” Mayor Dale Dingley said.

During Rudy’s tenure, former Rollingwood Police Officer and current municipal court clerk Kelly Heikkila, put on yet another hat for the city and became city secretary, splitting his time between the court and administrative duties. The mayor requested that Heikkila return to his position as full-time court clerk only, and that the council approve a promotion of Ryan to acting city secretary, with an accompanying $11,000 raise.

The money for the raise, he said would come out of the already budgeted $87,000 for a city administrator salary, which sits unspent each month they go without hiring anyone.

“I’m up for the task, and I feel this is a great opportunity for all of us to find out what everyone wants in that position and for me as well, and I’d like to be a part of it,” Ryan told the council.

The council voted unanimously to enact the reorganization on a three-month probationary period in which council and staff would define the position and determine the certifications necessary for Ryan to perform her new duties.

“The main thing is the elections process and Robyn has indicated a willingness and a desire to get whatever certifications are necessary or deemed appropriate by city council,” Dingley said.

He went on to say that he saw no rush to fill Ryan’s now-vacated role in communications since she would maintain many of responsibilities. But that he would expect that in the future the council may want to hire a part-time worker to help with the city newsletter.

Heikkila indicated that he was happy to return to working one job for the city.

“Thank you profusely for filling in that city secretary role admirably, you’ve done a remarkable job,” Dingley told him.

After the meeting, Dingley said that he still expected the council to hire a city administrator at some point and that he was confident they’d be able to fill the role at or under the budgeted salary as altered by Ryan’s raise.