Normal City Manager Mark Peterson announced Monday he plans to retire in March, ending a three-decade career with the town.
Peterson, 58, has served as Normal's city manager since 1998, and he's worked for the town since 1988.
“I chose to make this announcement several months in advance of my actual retirement date in order to give the mayor and (Normal Town) Council ample time to develop and undertake a process to replace me,” Peterson said in a statement.
Peterson, who previously worked in Missouri and Iowa, got the top job after previous City Manager Dave Anderson retired. Peterson has worked with several mayors and councils throughout his tenure, most recently Mayor Chris Koos.
“While it is hard to imagine the town without Mark Peterson as city manager, we are very fortunate that he is allowing us the better part of eight months to carefully consider our next steps," Koos said.
The Normal Town Council will have a preliminary discussion about the city manager search at a special executive session Aug. 11.
Normal Town Council member Jeff Fritzen was serving on the council when Peterson was first hired in 1988. Fritzen said Uptown Normal is Peterson's signature accomplishment, but he has also done a lot to replace an aging water and sewer infrastructure.
Fritzen says part of what has made Peterson such a successful city manager is his vision.
“Mark is a good manager, and a good administrator. Beyond that, he has challenged us to think outside the box at times about different economic development-type items or other aspects of the town’s business. That’s one of the reasons we’ve done so much master planning.”
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