The Festus City Council voted 5-3 at Wednesday’s (April 12) meeting to hire Gregory Camp, currently city administrator of Desloge, as the new Festus city administrator.
Camp, 50, who did not attend the meeting, was chosen out of 34 applicants to fill the position left vacant since Happy Welch resigned Jan. 20 to take a similar job in Harrisonville, south of Kansas City.
“The council had a hard time getting (the list) down to a final eight,” Festus Mayor Mike Cage said. “It was not easy. There were many real strong candidates.”
City clerk Kerry Patek said after the list was whittled down to eight, two of the final candidates dropped out, so city officials only interviewed six.
Camp, who is to start his Festus job May 15, will be paid a $90,000 annual salary. Welch, who was in his fifth year as Festus city administrator was being paid $85,000.
Council members voting for Camp included Paul Schaffer of Ward 1, Tim Montgomery and Bill Brian Wehner of Ward 2, Bobby Venz of Ward 3 and Jim Tinnin of Ward 4, while the opposing votes came from Gary Underwood of Ward 1, Bill Gray of Ward 3 and Mike Cook of Ward 4.
Venz said he voted for Camp largely because of his experience.
“He was one of the top ones who would jump right in,” Venz said. “He’s doing (similar duties) now. He’s a go-getter who’s going to go after bringing businesses here.”
Underwood said he has nothing against Camp.
“I just had a different preference,” he said. “I hope to work with him in the future.”
In a vote immediately before the motion to hire Camp, the council unanimously approved a change in a residency requirement for the city administrator. Under past rules, the city administrator was required to live within the city limits. The change allows the city administrator to live within a 20-mile radius of Festus City Hall within Missouri.
“He’ll have six months to move into the designated area,” Cage said.