Just a week after it was announced that Public Service Director Mike Andrako will be leaving, Marysville has named his replacement.
Following an executive session at Monday night’s city council meeting, the body unanimously voted to name City Engineer/Deputy Public Service Director Jeremy Hoyt as the city’s new Public Service Director. Andrako, who also served as deputy city manager, resigned last week after taking a position with the Franklin County Engineer’s Office.
HOYT
“He is just an exceptional employee,” City Manager Terry Emery said. “He is just really good. He has been very effective in his role as engineer and it just made sense for us to elevate him.”
The city’s public service department includes the streets, planning and zoning, engineering, parks and grounds, water, wastewater and facilities divisions.
Following the vote, Mayor Henk Berbee said council has tremendous faith in the move.
“We realize you have big shoes to fill, but know you are the man to do it,” Berbee said.
Hoyt graduated from Ohio Northern University in 2001 with a degree in civil engineering. After a decade working for a private company responsible for designing residential and commercial subdivisions primarily in Delaware County, Hoyt took the city’s assistant engineer position in 2009 and moved to city engineer in 2013. He is a registered professional engineer for the State of Ohio. While in the private sector, Hoyt served as a consultant and performed various engineering projects for municipal clients throughout the state.
“This is just kind of the next step in my career,” Hoyt said.
As city engineer, Hoyt was responsible for the planning, design, construction and inspection of the city’s public infrastructure and developer-driven improvements. He was also responsible to ensure that work completed by the residents, private developers, and utility companies complied with the city’s specifications.
The city engineer has general coordinating responsibility with the water, wastewater, streets and storm water divisions. The planning and zoning division directly reports to the city engineer.
Like council and the administration, Hoyt acknowledged the work Andrako has done. He said he hopes, at least in the short-term, residents see no impact from the transition.
“I just want to take the ball and keep going and keep growing in the direction we are already headed in,” Hoyt said.
He added that, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
Emery explained that for the past several years, the city has, “been trying to plan and prepare for succession.” He said that has been in the works in each department, but “if there was a department ready for this, it was public service,” Emery said.
Andrako’s final day will be Friday. Monday, Hoyt will begin his new role. He will be paid $110,000 annually. As engineer, Hoyt made about $102,000.
Hoyt told Emery and the council he would not let them down.
One of his first responsibilities will be filling his old role. That was part of the reason for the quick transition, Emery said.
“We knew Jeremy was our guy,” Emery said. “We knew the quicker we were able to do that, the quicker we were able to begin looking for a new city engineer.”
Emery said naming Hoyt’s replacement will be a “critical hire.” He said the city will go through an exhaustive and thorough search.
Hoyt said the new city engineer will need to focus on continuing the city’s roadway plan as well as expanding utilities to meet the city growth.
As part of the meeting, council members and administration praised Andrako’s work in the city.
“I couldn’t have done anything without the support of administration, city council and most importantly, the great staff that I get to work with,” Andrako said.