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,-AEN HILLS MEMORANDUM DATE: December 7, 2005 Agenda Item 6.A. TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Michelle A. Wolfe, City Administrator Schawn P. Johnson, Assistant to the City Administrator Karen Barton, Community Development Director SUBJECT: Appointment of James Lehnhoff as City Planner BACKGROUND The position of City Planner became vacant when Peter Hellegers accepted a new position with the City of South St. Paul in October. The City received 25 applications for the open position. Four candidates were selected to participate in the first round interviews. The first round of �1 interviews was conducted by Karen Barton, Community Development Director and Schawn Johnson, Assistant to the City Administrator. After reviewing the four candidates, City staff elected to pursue two candidates. The second round of interviews was conducted on November 21 st. The interview panel included City Administrator Michelle Wolfe, Community Development Director Karen Barton and Assistant to the City Administrator Schawn Johnson. DISCUSSION The recommended candidate is Mr. James Lehnhoff. Mr. Lehnhoff has a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth in Urban Geography. He also has a Masters Degree from the University of Minnesota in Urban and Regional Planning. He was recently employed by the Community Growth Institute in Baxter, MN as a Consulting Planner. Mr. Lehnhoff has worked as a consulting planner for the Cities of East Gull Lake, Motley, Emily, and Garrison. In that capacity, he was responsible for completing staff reports, reviewing variances, conditional use permits, zoning requests, and ordinance amendments. Mr. Lehnhoff has also led the comprehensive planning process for the Cities of Baxter and Garrison. He also has experience with creating and working with GIS based maps and has considerable experience with creating and maintaining web sites. In conjunction with his work for the Community Growth Institute, Mr. Lehnhoff also worked as a consultant for the Brainerd Lakes Area Conservative Collaborative as a Planner/GIS Consultant. In this role, he was asked to gather GIS data and create customized maps that identify natural and recreational resources in Crow Wing County.