Forest Lake facing staff changes amid city administrator search

The City of Forest Lake is facing staff changes amid its search for its next city administrator, as finance director Elle Reichert submitted her resignation on Friday, Oct. 23, and deputy city clerk Amanda Milks’ employment with the city ended on Tuesday, Oct. 20, according to interim city administrator Jolleen Chaika.

The Forest Lake Council formally accepted Reichert’s resignation, effective Monday, Nov. 23, 2026, at its Monday, Oct. 26 meeting. Chaika said her and Reichert, who was hired in September 2025, will meet to discuss the transition as Reichert moves to a new role in another metro area city.

Mayor Blake Roberts and council members thanked Reichert for her contributions, and Roberts said a large city in the south metro is going to “benefit greatly with her knowledge.”

According to a council memo, “the finance director vacancy creates a need for interim leadership to maintain financial operations, support completion of the 2027 budget process, oversee year-end activities, and provide direction to finance department staff.”

The Council authorized Chaika to develop and negotiate a proposed interim finance director arrangement, including the proposed cost and funding source, to be presented for Council consideration and approval at its next regular meeting on Monday, Nov. 9.

Chaika told the Council she believes the future city administrator should have input on who becomes the next finance director.

“The reason I would be seeking an interim option is because I believe very strongly that the future city administrator should have a say in whomever is appointed to that position permanently,” Chaika said.

“The finance director works incredibly closely with the city administrator on a myriad of topics. So, it’s going to be important that the city administrator, who’s going to be in the seat in the coming months, hopefully early in 2027, is comfortable with the person who is sitting in the finance director seat permanently.”

Forest Lake recently started accepting applications for its next city administrator, and the deputy city clerk position has also been posted online.The Council started interviewing candidates for its vacant seat left by Hanna Valento on Monday, Nov. 2 and is expected to conclude interviews on Monday, Nov. 9.

Additional compensation for Chaika

The Forest Lake Council is expected to formally approve additional compensation for Chaika, who has served as the interim city administrator since February, at its next meeting on Nov. 9 after expressing support for the move during its Oct. 26 meeting.

City attorney Amanda Johnson said at the meeting that Chaika has been in the interim city administrator role since February while also maintaining her assistant city administrator responsibilities and cited the recent departure of the deputy city clerk and the resignation of the finance director who has been on maternity leave, both of which have resulted in additional responsibility.

“The bulk of the levy and budget has also fallen into Jolleen’s lap for this year,” Johnson said, adding that Chaika has had to take on additional hats over the course of this year.

“When she initially signed on for the interim city administrator role, she did not take any additional compensation,” Johnson said of Chaika. “To be fair, the Council asked her at that time, and she turned you down. But in light of all of the additional things that she is doing, and just the frank reality that if she were to say no, we would need to hire a lot of different consultants that would be incredibly expensive and just watching how hard she’s been working, city staff is recommending that Council consider two things.”

The first would be a 7% salary increase, effective immediately, through the first 60 days of the city administrator being hired, as Johnson said there are “at least 60 days worth of onboarding, training, and transitioning over to the new city administrator.”

The second would be a four-week paid sabbatical that Chaika would be able to take after the new city administrator is settled “to give her the ability to get a little bit of a break and sort of reset herself after what has been and will continue to be a lot of hats that she’s wearing and balls that she is juggling,” Johnson said.

Johnson added that the additional compensation for Chaika from a financial perspective is “so dramatically below what would be necessary if you are taking on additional consultants for the various roles that she’s assumed essentially this year.”

The Council expressed support for giving Chaika the temporary salary increase, as well as four weeks of future paid leave, and thanked her for all the work she’s done this year.

“This is a no-brainer,” Roberts said. “I don’t know where we would be without Jolleen and her guidance to the city at this point, and as mentioned, how much more work is going to be involved with now losing a couple of key people and onboarding a new city administrator.”