Eleven Apply For Plymouth City Manager Position

Plymouth City Manager Laurie Ahrens is retiring after 35 years in city government, most of that time spent with the city of Plymouth.

Now the Plymouth City Council is looking to fill the position and started its city manager search last month. The city has since received 11 applications, all of which were forwarded to the City Council electronically. Because of data privacy laws, the names of the candidates will not be disclosed at this stage in the process. 

The council will review those applications at its next special meeting Tuesday, June 11, at City Hall. To ensure anonymity each candidate will be assigned a letter and will be referred to by that letter rather than by name during the meeting. The candidate ranking will be presented at the special meeting.

The city manager selection process in 2003 took about six months to complete. Ahrens announced her last day is Friday, July 12. 

At the May 14 special City Council meeting, city staff was directed to advertise the city manager position and rank the applications received. 

The governor’s 2013 salary cap for a city manager is $160,639. On average, comparable cities in the metro pay an annual base salary of $150,000. Cities may request a waiver from the Office of Management & Budget to pay an employee in excess of the governor’s salary cap.

Ahrens was the first and only female city manager for the city and has been manager since 2003. 

Ahrens began her tenure at Plymouth more than two decades ago, serving in three different positions. Ahrens served as Plymouth’s assistant city manager from 1999 to 2003, and the city clerk from 1988 to 1999. Prior to joining the staff at Plymouth, she worked for the cities of Mankato and North Mankato.

Ahrens was honored in 2009 by Minnesota Women in City Government with its Leadership Award for appointed officials.

(Information from the city of Plymouth's website.)