Hartwig: Fremont offers possibilities

The man who is set to become Fremont's new city administrator said the city offers an array of opportunities that will allow him to utilize experience he brings with him.

Bob Hartwig Jr., 48, who lives in the Denver suburb of Arvada, Colo., is the director of finance and administrative services in nearby Lafayette.

Fremont Mayor “Skip” Edwards announced Friday that Hartwig has been recommended for the position. The city council still must vote on the recommendation.

As soon as he learned about the vacant Fremont position, Hartwig said he was interested.

“The ad was given to me by our city administrator,” Hartwig said. “He and I have been working together for a very long time. He knew I was interested in a position like this.”

The move to Fremont will get him and his wife, Glenda, closer to family, he said. His retired parents live on 40 acres in rural Mitchell County in northern Iowa. Children David and Amanda are students at the University of Iowa.

“This gets us closer to my parents and our kids,” Hartwig said.

Aside from that, Hartwig said he's excited about the possibilities that Fremont offers.

“Government is very comprehensive, particularly in Fremont's case,” he said. “You have utilities that operate much like businesses, making business-type decisions. You have government itself. It's very exciting to me. You almost have to be in it to understand how much fun it is to do it. You feel like you're making a difference in people's lives when you help provide a nice public library or parks for them and make sure that people are safe in their homes.”

Fremont is about the same size as Lafayette, and with that Hartwig said there are some similarities and some differences.

“Lafayette doesn't have the industry that Fremont does,” he said. “Lafayette isn't a county seat, and it doesn't have the obvious ties to railroad that Fremont does.”

The similarities include a continued need for economic development, he said. In Lafayette, Hartwig was part of a three-person team that worked diligently to improve economic development in that city to helping to expand its retail base and commercial developments.

“The big problem in Lafayette was that it grew from a small town into a bedroom community,” he said. “They needed economic development. We did that. We also brought in a 200-bed hospital along with some other developments.

“We've really had good fortune but we put in a lot of hard work,” he said.

The team's most recent projects have included some of the re-development of empty storefronts where stores have moved into larger locations in that city, he said.

“Redevelopment is hard and it's expensive, but it's necessary,” he continued. “You can't just let those buildings sit there empty. When you get to see that progress unfold in front of you, it's a lot of fun.”

One specific project sticks out in Hartwig's mind, he said.

“My family moved to Lafayette when I was in the ninth grade. My first job was at Tasty-Freeze at the corner. That building was run down when I worked there in the '70s. That building got torn down and replaced with a two-story commercial building. What's in its place is a whole lot nicer than what were there.”

A graduate of the University of Iowa with bachelor's degrees in accounting and finance along with master's degrees in finance and accounting and in international business from Regis University in Denver, Hartwig said he hasn't always worked in municipal offices.

“I started at a CPA firm,” he said. “About 40 percent of clients were municipal governments. I enjoy municipal accounting. I decided to take a job with one of my clients. That got me into municipal government. I was in that for seven years when I decided I wanted to try my hand at running my own CPA firm. I did that for about seven years. When I was doing that, I was asked to help a city on an emergency basis, but then realized how much I missed municipal accounting.”

With that includes pension funds that have to be invested and bonds that have to be issued, he said. “So there's a financial aspect, too.”

Hartwig was chosen over two other finalists - Jack Vavra, city administrator for York, and Joseph Pepplitsch, city manager for Lexington. The three, who were chosen as finalists from a pool of 51 applicants, were interviewed on consecutive days beginning Nov. 15.

Hartwig said during that process the only city employees he met were interim city administrator Derril Marshall, who is also the general manager of the city's utilities department, and management coordinator Jan Rise. The two were assisting a special search committee looking to hire the new city administrator.

“The only other people I met were city council members and future council members,” Hartwig said. “I wanted to meet with (the department heads and the accounting staffs) to find out what their concerns are. I also wanted to see if I'd be comfortable with them and if they'd be comfortable with me. It felt like a good fit.”

Hartwig said he looks forward to helping the city continue its prosperity.

“In a lot of ways, I think the city is going in the right direction already,” he said. “From a lot of things I saw, this is a city interested in its economic well being. I'd say future opportunities include some redevelopment along 23rd Street. Transportation issues with railroads will be a big deal. The city has to be aware of the impact that the freeway connecting Fremont and Omaha will have. It becomes more convenient now, not just from Fremont to Omaha but also from Omaha to Fremont.

“I'd like to try to diversify into some other industries, but I'll have to see how the council feels about it,” he said. “But first, before we do anything else, I need to sit down with people and learn the city of Fremont.”

Hartwig said he will start his new job as Fremont's city administrator sometime around the second or third week of January.

“Lafayette is starting a city-owned ambulance service,” he said. “The ambulance service has been run by a private company that is going out of business. It's either the city do it or the city not have ambulance service, and that's not really an option. I promised my boss I'd stay on until that's going. That's a complicated process.”