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player ready...Former Aurora deputy chief of staff Alex Voigt is taking over as Geneva’s next city administrator. She’s replacing Stephanie Dawkins, who is set to retire later this month.
Voigt’s appointment by Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns was approved unanimously by the Geneva City Council at its meeting Monday evening.
Joined by family and colleagues from the city of Aurora, Voigt thanked Burns and the City Council, and said she was looking forward to working with the department and division heads and others in the city.
She is expected to start as city administrator in early September, according to the city.
Dawkins has worked as Geneva’s city administrator since 2016, having previously served as the assistant city administrator and director of administrative services, per the city.
The city announced Dawkins’ retirement in May. Her last day is Aug. 15.
The city administrator is the city’s chief administrative officer, responsible for supervising all department heads and preparing the yearly budget for City Council approval, according to the city’s website. The City Administrator’s Office also manages and administers city operations, like communications and business and liquor licensing.
During Dawkins’ time as city administrator, Geneva’s bond rating was upgraded, the equalized assessed valuation increased by nearly 52% from a low in 2015, leading to a lower tax levy rate, and general fund reserves increased from covering less than one month of city operations to more than six months, according to the city’s website.
Burns recognized Dawkins’ work for the city at the City Council Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, saying she “built a team that … is second to none,” and “earned the respect of the men and women who work for the city, who serve the city, the residents who call our city home, the businesses who locate here, who expand here, who thrive here.”
At the Committee of the Whole meeting, Dawkins cited challenges during her time in the role, like the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the city’s successes, like its upgraded bond rating, the East State Street Reconstruction project and its adoption of a facilities master plan.
“Through it all, I have been fortunate to work alongside talented, dedicated colleagues who care deeply about this community,” Dawkins said at the Committee of the Whole meeting Monday. “And I am confident that the city is in good hands moving forward.”
Voigt worked for the city of Aurora from 2010 until this past May, according to past reporting. Having served as the deputy chief of staff, she left the role when Mayor John Laesch took office.
At the meeting, Burns noted Voigt’s previous work assisting with Aurora’s annual budget, modernizing internal systems, improving communication platforms and more. He also highlighted things like her public policy and advocacy skills and team leadership, and called her a “champion of policy research, development and implementation.”
Voigt told The Beacon-News that Geneva has “always been a destination” for her, somewhere she enjoyed spending time both as a child growing up in Aurora and with her family now.
After leaving the city of Aurora, Voigt said she didn’t know exactly what was next, but then this role came up.
“In terms of career progression, this was what I was aspiring to and what I was working towards,” Voigt told The Beacon-News on Tuesday.
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Voigt said she’s “long respected and admired” Dawkins and is looking forward to working with the mayor, City Council and other city leadership in Geneva.
She thinks there will be some similarities between her work in Aurora and new role in Geneva, but it will be on a different scale. And she’s excited to have the chance to do something new.
“I’m used to just having the answers at my fingertips because I was there (at the city of Aurora) for so long,” Voigt said. “I’m looking forward to starting something new and just figuring it out with the folks that are there. … I keep thinking about when I started in Aurora and just, I didn’t know anything, and I didn’t know what was ahead for me. And it’s exciting to be having that experience again, but with … years of experience in a different community.”