List of city managers of Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Eau Claire City Hall

This is a list of city managers and mayors of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA. Eau Claire was originally incorporated as a city in 1872, utilizing the mayor-council form of government. In 1910, Eau Claire switched to a city commission government, then in 1948, they voted to abolish the office of mayor and enact a council-manager form of government. They have retained that form of government ever since.

The first mayor of Eau Claire was Hiram P. Graham, a pioneer businessman who also served as a state senator. The first city manager was James R. Pollock, who previously served as city manager of Marquette, Michigan. The longest-serving city manager was Don T. Norrell, who served from September 1991 to December 2005. The current city manager is Stephanie Hirsch, since 2022; she previously served as operations administrator at the city Department of Human Services. She is Eau Claire's first female city manager.[1]

Mayors with 1-year term (1872–1902)

George Buffington, 4th mayor of Eau Claire.
George B. Shaw, 15th mayor, later a U.S. representative.
Order Mayor Term start Term end Notes
1 Hiram P. Graham 1872 1873
2 James P. Nelson 1873 1874
3 Gilbert E. Porter 1874 1875
4 George A. Buffington 1875 1876
5 Levi M. Vilas 1876 1877
6 William F. Bailey 1877 1878
7 George W. Chapman 1878 1880 First two-term mayor.
8 J. F. Moore 1880 1881
9 E. T. Farr 1881 1882
10 William F. Bailey 1882 1884 First three-term mayor.
11 H. D. Davis 1884 1885
12 D. W. Day 1885 1886
13 John Grinsell 1886 1887
14 William A. Rust 1887 1888
15 George B. Shaw 1887 1890
16 John Hunner 1890 1891
17 John Ure Sr. 1891 1893 Democratic.
18 George H. Hopper 1893 1894 Republican.
19 D. A. Cameron 1894 1895 Republican.
20 Henry L. Day 1895 1897 Democratic.
21 William H. Frawley 1897 1898 Democratic.
22 S. S. Kepler 1898 1899 Democratic.
23 David Douglas 1899 1900
24 William Rowe 1900 1902 Republican.

Mayors with 2-year term (1902–1910)

Order Mayor Term start Term end Notes
24 William Rowe 1902 1906 Republican.
First mayor to serve three consecutive terms.
First mayor to serve four consecutive terms.
25 William H. Frawley 1906 1910 Democratic.

Commission mayors (1910–1949)

Eau Claire voted in a February 15, 1910, city referendum to adopt a city commission government, with a mayor and two commissioners all elected at-large in nonpartisan elections.

Order Mayor Term start Term end Notes
26 John B. Fleming 1910 1916
27 John E. Barron 1916 1928
28 Fred Stussy 1928 1934
29 Dwight D. Lockerby 1934 1940
30 G. Donald Barnes 1940 1946
31 Orville G. Christianson 1946 1949

City managers (1949–present)

Eau Claire voted in an April 6, 1948, city referendum to adopt a council–manager government, abolishing the office of mayor effective April 18, 1949.[2]

Order Manager Term start Term end Notes
- Herman D. White 1949 1949 President of the city council and initial acting city manager
1 James R. Pollock 1949 1952 Selected by city council in May 1949.[3]
- John Dever 1952 1952 Acting city manager.[4]
2 David D. Rowlands 1952 1956 Selected by city council in June 1952.[4]
- N. J. Sindelar 1956 1956 Acting city manager.[5]
3 Douglas G. Weiford 1956 1967 Selected by city council in September 1956.[5]
- Ray Wachs 1967 1968 Acting city manager.
4 Walter Kane 1968 1970 Selected by city council in December 1967.[6]
5 Ray Wachs 1970 1978 Acting city manager from March 1970. Selected by city council in June 1970.[7]
- George Kumferman 1978 1978 Acting city manager.
6 Stephen J. Atkins 1978 1983 Selected by city council in July 1978.[8]
- George Kumferman 1983 1983 Acting city manager.
7 Eric A. Anderson 1983 1991 Selected by city council in October 1983.[9]
- Michael W. Huggins 1991 1991 Acting city manager.
8 Don T. Norrell 1991 2005 Selected by city council in August 1991.[10]
9 Michael W. Huggins 2006 2011 Acting city manager from December 2005. Selected by city council in June 2006.[11]
- Brian Amundson 2011 2012 Acting city manager.
10 Russell Van Gompel 2012 2015 Selected by city council in August 2012.[12]
11 J. Dale Peters 2015 2020 Acting city manager from December 2015. Selected by city council in December 2015.[13]
- David Solberg 2020 2022 Acting city manager.[14]
12 Stephanie Hirsch 2022 Current Selected by city council in March 2022.[1]

City council presidents (1949-present)

Order Council president Term start Term end Notes
1 Herman White 1949 1955
2 Leonard Haas 1955 1957
3 W. R. Waters 1957 1961
4 David Donnellan 1961 1963
5 Richard Hibbard 1963 1965
6 David Donnellan 1965 1967
7 Stevens L. Riley 1967 1969
8 Richard Hibbard 1969 1970
9 George Losby 1970 1971
10 J. Robert Mills 1971 1973
11 Hal Crinion 1973 1977
12 Marie Evans 1977 1978
13 Richard Gillett 1978 1981
14 Eric Wahl 1981 1984
15 Shirley Crinion 1984 1987
16 Wallace Rogers 1987 1991
17 Allan Hofland 1991 1993
18 Mark D. Lewis 1993 1997 First council president elected at-large.[15]
19 William D. Nielsen, Jr. 1997 2001
20 Howard White 2001 2005
21 David J. Adler 2006 2009
22 Kerry J. S. Kincaid 2009 2018 First council president after referendum lengthening term from two to three years.
23 Terry Weld 2019 2023
24 Emily Berge 2023 Current

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Hirsch named as new Eau Claire City Manager". WEAU. March 3, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  2. ^ "City Tenth in State to Adopt Manager System". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. April 7, 1949. p. 2. Retrieved January 27, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Council Names First City Manager". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. May 25, 1949. p. 1. Retrieved January 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b "Eau Claire Council Appoints Pennsylvanian New Manager". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. June 27, 1952. p. 7. Retrieved January 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b "New Manager Getting Acquainted with City". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. September 6, 1956. p. 3. Retrieved January 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "City Asked to Annex". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. September 6, 1956. p. 3. Retrieved January 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Wachs Named City Manager". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. June 11, 1970. p. 1. Retrieved January 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "New city manager named". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. July 27, 1978. p. 17. Retrieved January 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Lautenschlager, Scott (October 12, 1983). "Officials have high hopes for manager". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. p. 1. Retrieved January 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Klein, Michael (August 19, 1991). "Norrell earns high marks from community leaders". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. p. 9. Retrieved January 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Emerson, Julian (June 28, 2006). "Step up to the Mike". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. p. 1. Retrieved January 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Dowd, Andrew (August 9, 2012). "New city manager brings key skills to job". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. p. A1. Retrieved January 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "From Our Files 12/23/20". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. December 23, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  14. ^ Pautsch, Mary (October 21, 2020). "Wednesday is the last day for Eau Claire's city manager". Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  15. ^ "Government". City of Eau Claire. Retrieved July 5, 2025.
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