Manitowoc Interim City Attorney Eric Nycz is now the city’s full-time attorney.
The council voted 8-2 to appoint him.
Alderman Eric Sitkiewitz says although he’s heard all good things, he was concerned about how much Nycz was being paid since he’s still fairly new.
He was also concerned about how much his pay would go up overtime and how much paid time off he would get over time.
“Eric has roughly one and a half years of municipal experience, all with the city of Manitowoc,” he explained. “But we’re going to put him above the five-year rate. We’re going to put him at nine years of PTO service. It just doesn’t seem right when we’ve had hard conversations with other department heads on compensation.”
The city did a job search to find someone who had more experience, but Alderman Jim Brey said they never found anyone who wanted the job.
Alderman Steve Czekala says he’s concerned about some effects in the future, but:
“In my time as council president, everything I asked of him was done timely and to my complete satisfaction,” he described. “Plus, he had nothing but praise from Jane and that carries a lot of weight with me. Nothing is ever perfect that you vote on but I’m going to vote in support.”
Czekala is talking about *Jane Rohde, a paralegal who has worked for the city for 35 years.
According to council members, Rohde says Nycz is the smartest attorney she’s worked with, which helped influence some of the council members.
Nycz was appointed to be the interim city attorney in May this year.
He was also praised by council members for being at local events and how well he gets work done for the city.
