Though the Austin City Council agreed the city of Austin needs a city administrator, it will be some time before council members choose the person for the position.

Council members debated whether the city could go without its top position during its retreat Tuesday at the Mower County Senior Center. Though the question was first brought up by Council Member Steve King as a thought exercise, Council Member Jeff Austin tried to persuade the council to forego a city administrator through a prepared speech.

Austin argued the city’s strong department heads had compensated for former City Administrator Jim Hurm for years and could continue to do so. He praised Finance Director Tom Dankert’s efforts to take over a large part of Hurm’s duties since the council fired Hurm in December and asked the council to continue letting Dankert perform some of the city administrator tasks while the other department heads continued their work.

“All a city administrator does in this position is get in the way, in my opinion,” Austin said.

Other council members, Mayor Tom Stiehm and Vision 2020’s Director of Creative Vision Laura Helle argued a city administrator would help lead Austin through coordinating city efforts and acting as a buffer between the council and partisan issues. Moreover, the city will need an administrator to work with Vision 2020 committees that will ask the city to spend money to improve the community over the next few years.

“The city is going to be asked to get involved,” Stiehm said. “The Hormel Foundation is going to be contributing millions — hundreds of millions — over the next few years. There is an expectation that Austin will do something monetarily to help out.”

Helle, who was at the meeting to represent Vision 2020 efforts, said organizers and Foundation members envisioned a city administrator who would help the city decide which innovations it wanted to pursue. Though Austin said the city didn’t need a cheerleader for Vision 2020 efforts, Helle pointed out the city would likely want someone to improve city workings as opposed to maintaining the status quo.

Dankert said the city would likely need someone to help future councils and determine what is in the city’s best interests.

“I would suggest longterm you find yourself a city administrator,” he said.

The council agreed, voting 5-2 with Austin and Council Member Michael Jordal dissenting to hire a city administrator.

Yet the city won’t hire a new administrator soon. Questions on a city administrator’s duties remain as the city hasn’t updated the position since at least 1995. Council members will remove a 2012 resolution affirming Jim Hurm’s ability to directly manage employees from the administrator’s duties, as they said that should have been evident.

Council members will also determine whether to go through a job search agency to find a candidate for the job. Stiehm and city officials said previous hiring agency by cities like Albert Lea have resulted in candidates that didn’t stay long, and Stiehm urged the council and city to do at least some of the job search itself.

The council will discuss the issue at its work session on March 3.

Stiehm said he was pleased the council determined it needed a city administrator.

“We want to be a progressive city,” he said. “A city administrator can help do that by coming up with and presenting ideas.”