By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington aldermen voted unanimously Monday night to hire Tim Gleason to be the next city manager, although one council member expressed publicly her dissatisfaction with the decision-making process.

Alderman Diana Hauman said the council didn’t work as a team.

“I do not feel that we, as a group of 10, used an effective process for this selection,” said Hauman, who was defeated in her bid for mayor last year.

“The outcome may well have been the same with a different process, however I’m not sure that we did our best work in making this critical decision,” Hauman said.

Mayor Tari Renner said the city and the consultant, which was paid $20,000, conducted a “thorough” national search.

“The City Council put in countless hours in looking at resumes, interviewing the first wave of finalists, and then the final wave of finalists, and then also considerable energy in debating this,” the mayor said.

Gleason, who’s run city governments in Decatur and Washington, Illinois, said he and interim City Manager Steve Rasmussen, who was a finalist for the top job, will make a great one-two punch for the city.

Gleason wants to build relationships with the elected leaders, and “carrying out your vision for the community,” said Gleason.

“We’re going to make it happen,” he added.

Gleason will be paid $185,000 in the first year of a four-year contract. That’s the same salary paid to first year City Manager Pamela Reece in Normal.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]