South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Retired Air Force colonel named Crestwood city administrator

Duchild believes fact Sime resides in Crestwood ‘a plus’

A retired U.S. Air Force colonel has been selected to serve as Crestwood’s new city administrator.

Mayor Jeff Schlink recommended Mark Sime’s appointment to the position at last week’s Board of Aldermen meeting and aldermen voted 7-0 to approve the appointment. Ward 1 Alderman Mimi Duncan was absent from the Jan. 8 meeting.

Sime, who served in the Air Force for 26 years, is a city resident.

“I think that living in the city of Crestwood gives me more desire to do things correctly for the city because I am a resident, I’m a taxpayer,” Sime told the board, “and I plan on living here for quite a while and also making this my last place of employment.”

Sime said he wants to make sure he does a good job for his family and himself, but also for residents and established businesses.

“I think that because I’m a resident it will give me a different perspective because I have to consider not just all of you, but my friends, my neighbors and myself as I go about doing the city administrator duties,” Sime said.

Schlink noted the city administrator position is a “more public position” than Sime has had in his past military experience.

However, Sime said he has had “visibility” in some of his positions, such as when he served as a squadron commander on Guam.

“I’m not afraid of (visibility). I’ve learned how to take care of people and how to deal with the situations, so the fact that in this position, I’ll be out in the public eye, it’s not new and I’m looking forward to the challenge of that as well,” he said.

Ward 3 Alderman Paul Duchild, who chaired the City Administrator Candidate Search Committee, said the city had “quite a number of really qualified people” apply for the position.

“I’m very glad that (Sime) lives in the city of Crestwood, I think that’s a plus … And really, we couldn’t be happier with the result that we have here tonight,” Duchild said.

Schlink said the purpose of the search committee, which also included of Duncan and Ward 4 Alderman Dan Tennessen, was not to tell the mayor who “they felt was the best person.”

“It was just to kind of get to what we felt were the top candidates,” he said, “and then it’s the mayor’s responsibility then from that pool to make the final recommendation to the board of aldermen.”

Though Sime’s appointment was approved by the Board of Aldermen, details of Sime’s employment still need to be finalized.

“There are still some things that still need to be ironed out,” Schlink said. “Generally speaking, we’ve talked about things like compensation … but nothing has been finalized. The board has given some guidance on that, but the board would still need to then make final approval.”

Former Fire Chief Karl Kestler had served as acting city administrator since March, at which time then-City Administrator Petree Eastman left the city.

Eastman earned $98,000 annually.

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