{"id":7644,"date":"2025-04-16T03:17:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T03:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7644"},"modified":"2025-04-16T03:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T03:17:12","slug":"princeton-council-plans-to-meet-april-15-to-consider-city-managers-future-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7644","title":{"rendered":"Princeton council plans to meet April 15 to consider city manager\u2019s future – Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"


The Princeton City Council is planning to meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, to discuss further employment of City Manager Theresa Wittenauer. <\/span>(Derek Barichello)
The Princeton City Council<\/a> is planning to meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, to discuss further employment of City Manager Theresa Wittenauer.
The council\u2019s agenda said it will meet in closed session, which is allowed by state statute to discuss personnel, and then it will conduct a public discussion among council members and vote.
Princeton<\/a> Mayor Ray Mabry said he is asking the city\u2019s legal counsel if public comment can be added to the agenda. Council member Jerry Neumann said he would like the council to hear public comment prior to going into closed session.
Mabry said the special meeting was called by him to discuss Wittenauer\u2019s performance and possible termination.
\u201cI\u2019ve been mayor two years and it felt like the appropriate time to discuss her performance,\u201d Mabry said. \u201cNo decisions have been made. We had to put it on the agenda the way it is about voting, because that way if we decide to take action, it is in there. We can come out of closed session and take action.\u201d
Neumann said he was taken by surprise at the mayor calling for the special meeting and said he\u2019ll be advocating for Wittenauer to retain her position.
\u201cThere\u2019s been no indication of a problem of any kind,\u201d Neumann said of the city manager.
Neumann commended Wittenauer for her work to reduce the city\u2019s debt from $42 million to $13 million and her personnel decisions.
\u201cShe is a phenomenal city manager,\u201d Neumann said. \u201cShe\u2019s doing an exceptional job, and has done so many things for this city and community. She\u2019s been better than any other city manager I\u2019ve work with and I\u2019ve been on City Council for 10 years and have worked with three. She is by far the best one we\u2019ve ever had.\u201d
Neumann also was concerned about the timing of the meeting. Don Saletzky is set to take a spot on the City Council in May after receiving the most votes in the April 1 election, taking Martin Makransky\u2019s seat. A new council will be in place within a month.
Neumann said he wants to make sure his colleagues hear the positive impact Wittenauer has made, including any comments from the public.
\u201cI want to be sure whoever attends this meeting has an opportunity to speak if they wish,\u201d Neumann said. \u201cI\u2019m going to insist the public has an opportunity to speak before executive session, before we make any decision.\u201d
Mabry said his perspective on how the city runs has changed since he became mayor, and he will share those observations with his colleagues during Tuesday\u2019s session.
\u201cAs a mayor and council, this is nothing we take lightly,\u201d Mabry said. \u201cWe take this very seriously. And as a mayor, I\u2019m just one vote, there are four additional votes. I\u2019m going to rely on the council for direction and advice.\u201d
City council members Hector Gomez, Michael McCall and Makransky also were contacted by Shaw Local News Network and said they were not going to comment on personnel matters prior to Tuesday\u2019s meeting.
Makransky said it\u2019s going to be an interesting meeting, also noting he is approaching it with an open mind.
\u201cI\u2019ve never been a part of anything like that,\u201d the council member said.
Former Princeton mayor Joel Quiram posted Sunday on Facebook about the meeting, alerting residents and supporting Wittenauer.
\u201cTheresa has been invaluable in her role as our city manager,\u201d Quiram said. \u201cFrom continuing to lower our debt, to the remaking of our depot parking lot, to our ever-evolving street program, and her involvement in saving our hospital from closing and all the behind the scenes day to day activity involved with properly managing a city our size, not to mention her ever present positive and gregarious personality, Theresa is our city\u2019s greatest asset.\u201d
Quiram shared contact information for the City Council and encouraged residents to voice their concerns.
\u201cIf you care about the direction Princeton takes, between good and bad, and you prefer good, please take a moment to contact council members, either by phone or email, and express your feelings,\u201d Quiram said.
Neumann said he was uncertain of what direction Princeton would go if it fired Wittenauer.
\u201cShe\u2019s the hub of everything we do,\u201d he said.
Wittenauer has been Princeton\u2019s city manager since December 2019. Wittenauer\u2019s contract<\/a> runs concurrently with Mabry\u2019s term through the 2027 election.
The meeting is scheduled to take place at City Hall, 2 S. Main St.
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network<\/p>\n

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The Princeton City Council is planning to meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, to discuss further employment of City Manager Theresa Wittenauer. (Derek Barichello)The Princeton City Council is planning to meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, to discuss further employment of City Manager Theresa Wittenauer.The council\u2019s agenda said it will meet in closed session, which is allowed by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t