Burnett resigns as city administrator

Humboldt City Administrator Aaron Burnett announced Tuesday that he will be leaving the position next month to take a similar job with the city of Keokuk. According to a copyrighted story in the Keokuk Daily Gate, the Keokuk City Council held a brief closed session meeting Monday and elected to offer the city administrator position to Aaron Burnett of Humboldt. Burnett was hired as Humboldt’s city administrator in early December of 2010. According to the Keokuk newspaper, the city council approved a $110,000 salary plus benefits for Burnett. Burnett’s current salary for the city is approximately $73,860 per year. He also receives a $50 per month cellular phone expense allowance and $250 per month in mileage expense allowance. Keokuk is a city of 10,780 residents in extreme southeast Iowa in Lee County. Keokuk City Council members said they were impressed with Burnett. One council member called him “personable and straight forward.” According to the Keokuk newspaper report, Council member Mike O’Connor called it a wonderful Christmas present to the people of the city. In a letter to Humboldt city leaders, Burnett said he has enjoyed his nearly five years in Humboldt, and said it is difficult to leave. He said a desire to be closer to his family and his wife’s family in eastern Iowa led to the decision. “This community operates in truly admirable fashion and I am confident it will continue to prosper long after my departure. I am both fortunate and proud to have been a participant in the current chapter of Humboldt’s history. I hope the policies that have led this community to success are never dropped for complacency, but rather pushed to the fullest to enable Humboldt to remain the best place to live in North Central Iowa,” Burnett said in his letter to the mayor and council members. Humboldt Mayor Walter Jensen said the city is already pursuing advertisements for a new city administrator. “We are advertising in a variety of outlets and hopefully by the end of this month have a good cross section of candidates where we can start doing interviews,” Jensen said. “Aaron will help us in the process and we have a person lined up as an interim city administrator until we can get the right person hired,” Jensen said. Read more about this story and all the other news in The Humboldt Independent. Subscribe to digital or print editions by clicking on the link at the top of this page.