A little more than a year ago, Steve McNeil was hired to be Sturgeon Bay's new city administrator. Here are some of his reflections of his first year on the job.

Q. You predicted the budget would be your biggest challenge. Has that proven to be true?

A. The challenge all municipalities are facing now is the economy, but the wrench that got thrown into it is the recession. Interest rates are down, and we'll lose $80,000 in interest income this year. And then, the 31 percent water increase and hydrant rental will cost the city. The city lost $177,368 in revenue. With levy limits, we started the year out in the hole.

The city of Sturgeon Bay is actually a corporation. As a municipality, we're affected just like everyone else. It's been a well-run city — we're in an enviable position. No services are being cut. I turn on the news and see things like last week, the city of Pewaukee laying off their Police Department to save $1 million. We aren't at that point here.

Q. How have you done that?

A. Department heads have done a good job. We changed some of our plowing schedules. Instead of starting at 2 a.m., we start at 4 a.m. now. Each of the department heads work on their own budgets and then are paired off and present their budget to other department heads. So, for example, Public Works presents to the police chief. What ends up happening is you may get something by me, or you may get it by the council, but you're not going to get it by the guy that does what you do. That does a couple things. First, we understand each other. And then they start looking at what they can do together. For example, the city engineer's car died. He now drives what used to be the fire chief's pickup truck.

We were able to combine the position of street superintendent and parks director — that saved more than $100,000.

Then the staff came forward and said, "We don't want a raise." I didn't suggest that. That came from them. I think that says it all. The results are you're not seeing in Sturgeon Bay what's happening in other cities.

Q. Is there anything that surprised you since you started?

A. No. I came in knowing about Wal-Mart. The two-way streets have their own life.

With the two-way streets, I could live with it either way. The decision was the right one because the majority of the council voted for it. I don't think anyone knows what Sturgeon Bay is going to look like with two bridges fully in operation and with a downtown under construction.

Q. You've served as administrator in two other small cities. What's different here?

A. One of the things I always hear, more so here than anywhere else, is, "My constituents tell me ..." This group seems a lot more responsive to what their constituents tell them. It may be a city, but it acts more like a village ... that connotes a sense of ownership. If you don't believe that, come and sit in front of my phone for a day.

Q. What did you do before you got into city government?

A. Most of my life was spent in the private sector. I owned a construction company — myself and two other people in New Hampshire. When we sold it, it had 476 employees.

Q. What brought you to Sturgeon Bay?

A. When my wife and I would come up to visit Door County, where everyone else goes up to Sister Bay, we'd always ended up staying in Sturgeon Bay. This really is a unique community. This is an absolute treat for me. I love it here. It's a great community. Winneconne was a village, but Sturgeon Bay is more of a village than any village I've been in.

Q. Why is that?

A.The people here care.

Q.What do you do for fun?

A.This is a second marriage for my wife, Ellen and I. We have four children. In February, we're going out to see my son in San Diego. My son is a captain in the Marine Corps who finished what they call 2 in 2 — two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan in two years.

I'm a Vietnam veteran. I was in the Marines. I have another son in Utah, and we have two in New Jersey. We love to travel, and if we can do it on motorcycles, we're tickled pink.

Q.A year ago, you had your house on the market when you left Winneconne as its city administrator to come to Sturgeon Bay. How did that work out for you?

A.We put our house on the market on Friday and by that Sunday, we had a sales agreement with a cash deposit. That Tuesday, the market collapsed. It was a cash purchase with an older couple liquidating assets, and the value of their funds dropped 50 percent. So obviously, we let them out of the agreement. My wife stayed in Winneconne. She was working there for a clinic as a registered nurse. It took one year, but my wife, Ellen, is now here. She is a casual fill-in nurse here at Door County Memorial Hospital. We bought a house on South 15th Court near the high school.

Q.What are your plans for the future?

A.I didn't come here to build a resume to move to a bigger community. The average lifespan for a city administrator is from three to five years in a position — especially with younger guys. That's not the case with me. I'll be here a while. That's our intention anyway. We'll see if the city of Sturgeon Bay goes along with that.

Q.Anything you'd like to see about the future of Sturgeon Bay?

A.One of the things that can happen is you can fall back into brush fire management, and I don't want that to happen here. Long-range planning is more important than ever. If the city wants to have some growth, we don't want it just for the sake of it.

The largest taxpayers are industrial, but when we spend taxes, most is spent on residential. There are ways of growing the community that has good financial impact.

Q.What type of growth do you foresee?

A. I hate to use that word growth. Last thing we want is to change Sturgeon Bay. If anything, people have told me they like Sturgeon Bay the way it is. But how do we continue to exist without changing it? What we don't want is for us to say we saw it coming but we didn't react to it. That's what were trying to do here as managers of the city.

Q.What the most difficult part of your job?

A.Making decisions in a vacuum. In two months, having a comprehensive plan right there all of a sudden will help — then, decision-making gets very easy. You don't want someone like me making arbitrary decisions. Operative word is not supervision — it's accountability. Every department head comes in here ... and they share what they're doing. With that comes ownership. That's why I moved all those mailboxes outside my door — I see aldermen and staff daily, and so far it's working well. I came here because of the people.

Contact McNeil at (920) 746-6905 or smcneil@sturgeonbaywi.org, or stop by the second floor of the Sturgeon Bay City Hall.