Susan de Castro McCann

Redstone Review

LYONS – Victoria Simonsen was chosen by the town board to be the new town administrator and will receive a salary of $82,000 a year with a $6,000 stipend for moving expenses. She signed a contract with the town on December 14.

She is expected to take over as administrator no later that March 1 and possibly sooner.

“She won’t actually make that much next year due to the six furlough days that the staff will take in 2010,” said Karen Cumbo, interim town administrator. Cumbo will stay on as interim administrator until March 1.

The town interviewed four finalists for the town administrator position. There were 44 applications for the position that became vacant when Howard Armstrong left in September to pursue business interests in Wellsburg, West Virginia.

Simonsen is currently serving as the city manager in Albert Lea, Minnesota, population 19,000. She became the city manager there in 2004. The general fund in Albert Lea has a budget of $14.8 million. She will end her work in Albert Lea in January or early February.

She is no stranger to Colorado: she served as city superintendent in Fort Morgan, population 12,000, from 2000 to 2004. Simonsen said that she has worked on two separate library districts in different communities. She is also familiar with budget cuts. “We had to cut $1.2 million from our budget in Minnesota,” said Simonsen. “We have to think creatively. I thoroughly enjoy the public sector and being an active participant in the community.”

Mayor Julie VanDomelen said that Simonsen’s experience with budgets and budget cuts as well as working on local issues would make her a good fit for Lyons.

Simonsen said she loves the mountains and the lifestyle in Colorado. “I am interested in getting back to Colorado,” she said. Simonson is a single mom, has two children and plans to look for housing in Lyons.

“We are definitely pleased that she signed the contract,” said Trustee Kirk Udovich. “She was just head and shoulders above the other candidates. She was the top choice of the board and we think that she will work well with this board and future boards. She stood out for all of us and we are very pleased.”

Trustee Juli Waugh agreed. “I for one am ecstatic that she decided to come on board,” said Waugh. “She has a wealth of experience in all of the areas that the town of Lyons needs including managing budgets in tight times, economic development and a personal interest of mine is that she has done two library projects in two different areas; I’m very excited about that. She is more than qualified and she met all our criteria.”

Trustees voted 6 to 1 to approve her contract with Trustee Tina Schooler dissenting.

Simonsen has a bachelor’s degree in social science education from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, and a master’s degree in public administration from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

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