Iowa City hires new assistant city manager

IOWA CITY - Beginning Dec. 1, the Iowa City Manager's Office gets back to full strength as a new assistant city manager joins the ranks.

Ashley Monroe, who since 2007 has served as assistant planner, management analyst and assistant the village manager in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, - population 52,000 - has been hired to fill the spot left open when Geoff Fruin was promoted to city manager in July.

Monroe, who also has municipal experience in communications, finance, land use planing and sustainability, is to earn $104,000 as Iowa City's assistant city manager.

Fruin said he was 'pleasantly surprised” by how competitive the pool of applicants was but Monroe's resume stood out because her mix of skills and experience was the right fit for his office.

'She's been exposed to all those different areas,” Fruin said. 'She has a really broad range of experience in the municipal sector.”

Fruin said Monroe's first task is to learn about the community. After that, Fruin, Monroe and Simon Andrew, assistant to the city manager, are likely to come up with a division of responsibilities based on each of their strengths, Fruin said.

'I think the important thing is to give her some time to learn the community, learn the organization and for us to better understand where her strengths are and how they best can be applied,” he added.

Monroe earned her master's degree in public administration and urban management, as well as her bachelor's degree in political science and public administration from Northern Illinois University.

The city manager's office is responsible for implementing city policy and upholding city ordinances. The city manager also oversees the city's department heads and proposes an annual budget to the city council, among other responsibilities.