New at municipal building: Meet City Manager Rebecca Houseman LeMire

By Kim McDarison 

Seated behind her desk in the Fort Atkinson Municipal Building, neatly organized with tablets containing handwritten notes, newly hired City Manager Rebecca Houseman LeMire is ready to begin her job. 

She’s a notetaker, she said. And she likes maps. 

On Monday, day six into her new role, LeMire said she is excited to learn about Fort Atkinson, its residents, staff and projects. Her time thus far has been spent getting up to speed and familiarizing herself with maps of the city. Several hold prominence on her office walls. 

LeMire, whose middle name is Houseman — she legally changed her maiden name to her middle name, she said — described her pathway to municipal leadership as untraditional. However, she added, it was a road that provided her with experience that she believes will prove invaluable as she works with the Fort Atkinson City Council and municipal staff to achieve the city’s goals and complete identified projects.  

She has come up through a local administrative process wearing many hats, she said.  

Growing up in Janesville

LeMire grew up in Janesville and is a 2000 graduate of Craig High School. The oldest of four children, she moved with her family from the Milwaukee area to Janesville when she was one year old so her father could begin a job as a plant manager with Parker Pen. 

Today, she added, her parents continue to live in Janesville and both are retired. Her mother, Kathryn, enjoyed a career as the director of curriculum and instruction within the Clinton School District and today works part time with Edgewood College in Madison as an editor of dissertations, working with students seeking their doctoral degrees in education administration. 

Her father, John, is a deacon in the Catholic Church, serving at St. Patrick’s in Janesville in that role for more than 15 years. 

LeMire credits her parents with influencing her life decisions, saying, “They also were highly influential in my decision to continue my education after college.”  

Choosing a career path

Like many college freshmen, LeMire said, upon entering the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she was unsure of her career plans. 

At UW-Madison, she recalled, “I was a little lost; it was a big school.”  

She decided to transfer to UW-Whitewater, beginning classes in her sophomore year, and that’s where she was introduced to the public policy and administration program.

“I liked political science and business,” LeMire said, adding that she saw the program as a combination of the two.

An internship in local government was included as part of the program, and she found herself working in 2004 with Steve Sheiffer, a 21-year veteran as city manager in Janesville. He retired in 2008. 

“I learned so much,” and “Steve encouraged me to go to graduate school,” LeMire said.

Opportunity presented itself when LeMire learned that Northern Illinois University (NIU) was waiving tuition for anybody in the master’s of public administration program with a local internship. She began classes in 2004. 

While working on her master’s degree, she continued as an intern in Janesville for another two years. 

It was during these educational years that she found and forged her commitment to public administration. 

“I’ve always been attracted to public service,” LeMire said. “In high school, I was the president of the student council and I was involved with the honor society, clubs and sports. I have a community-oriented perspective.” 

As an intern in the Janesville City Hall, she said, she found her passion.

“I really enjoyed it and saw it as a great way to serve the community and have a successful career, and make a difference,” LeMire said. 

Forging a career 

LeMire graduated from NIU in 2006 and several months later began working for the International Code Consultants and Inspection Inc. (ICCI) in Illinois, where she performed work as a zoning administrator, working with several small municipalities contracting with the company, and performed some human resources functions.   

“I did it for just under a year. I saw the job as not a good fit,” LeMire said, adding, “I didn’t like working for many municipalities, all of them together. It was very complicated and I couldn’t focus on one community and see that I made a difference.” 

Around that time, she said, her parents noticed an advertisement: the City of Beloit was looking for a community planner. LeMire was hired for the job in 2007, staying in that role until 2010.  

“I enjoyed that role. I could see the results of the work I did,” LeMire said, noting that as a city planner, she could begin a project, seeing it as a “blank piece of land,” and then, after reviewing the proposed development and making sure it met with applicable codes, she could make suggestions about the development, helping it achieve the “right fit” for the character of the community.  

While she enjoyed that position, she said, in December of 2010, the city’s longtime clerk was retiring, and she expressed an interest in the job.  

“The city took a chance on me,” LeMire said. 

She described her educational background as strong in city administration, but she had no practical experience as a clerk. 

With what she described as “great support from the staff” behind her, “I learned,” she said. 

She served as Beloit’s city clerk between 2010 and 2015.  

“At the time, election laws and rules were changing very quickly, and we had a census. It was a great time to learn that job, and it prepared me for being a city manager,” she said. 

“I wanted that, but I didn’t take the conventional path,” she said, adding, that the path she did take gave her varying experiences, all of which today strengthen her as a city manager.  

“By the time I walked in the door in Darien in 2015, I was very prepared to lead that community to see success,” she said, adding that while serving in Darien, she wore many hats. 

“My title was administrator/clerk/treasurer, but I was also the zoning administrator, the planner and human resources director.”

In addition, while the city did have an outside IT company to consult, she was also the IT director. 

LeMire continued in her administrative role in Darien for six years. 

Wearing the many hats brought invaluable administrative experience, she said. It prepared her to be an effective leader in an organization the size of Fort Atkinson, she added. 

Comparing the two cities, Darien has a population of about 1,600, while Fort Atkinson’s exceeds 12,000. 

Looking at the difference in budgets, Darien in 2020 had a general fund of about $2 million. Fort Atkinson’s was $16 million. 

Comparing the size of staffs, Darien had five full-time employees. Fort Atkinson has 82.

Fort’s new city manager 

LeMire started in her new role as city manager in Fort Atkinson on Feb. 22. 

Sitting behind her desk on day six, she said, her new job is exciting. She has been spending her time meeting staff and learning about the city’s projects. 

“Having a professional staff here is great. I have been meeting everyone, and I have not met everyone yet, but so far, everyone is wonderful and it will be wonderful to work with them,” she said.  

Among city projects in the works, she cited the Lorman-Loeb metal-recycling rehabilitation site; the expansion of the fire station; the wastewater plant upgrades, which she noted, would be a two-year project; and addressing the city’s housing shortage. 

As a first step toward that initiative, she cited work under way to have land owned by the city that currently is located in the Town of Koshkonong annexed into the city. It is early in the process, she said, but that will be the next step. 

Ultimately, the goal is to market the land — which the city has owned for about two years — for housing development. 

“The city understands the significance of the housing shortage here in Fort Atkinson and this is one way we can assist,” she said. 

“I can’t say enough about the people here,” LeMire said. “I have been meeting one-on-one with the department heads and touring the facilities to understand how everybody works together. We are working on basic themes for the future. 

“I look at all this stuff as opportunities.”

She praised the quality of the work done by her predecessor, Matt Trebatoski, but said she also thinks there can be an advantage at looking at projects with a fresh set of eyes. 

Trebatoski left his position as city manager in Fort Atkinson last year to become city administrator/treasurer in Oconomowoc. He was placed in the role as acting city manager in 2014, following the departure of City Manager Evelyn Johnson. 

Looking forward, LeMire said, her background, especially her experience as a planner, will be beneficial. 

“It will be useful in the understanding of land use and planning, especially when you are looking at maps all day,” she said. 

LeMire attended her first city council meeting as Fort Atkinson City Manager on Tuesday, March 2.

Prior to the meeting, she said, she had met council members during the interview process. 

LeMire said she is eager to work with this council, “because they don’t micromanage the operations of the city. They provide direction, policies and goals, and we implement those things. That’s the role of the staff here. 

“Our job is to make sure that what we are doing is in line with the goals,” she said. 

“I’m looking forward to understanding more about what the council sees as the priorities for Fort Atkinson.” 

LeMire said she and her family, including her three children, ages 6, 5 and 2, and her husband, Jim, who is the principal at Edison Middle School, Janesville, plan to move to Fort Atkinson as soon as they find a place. 

She acknowledged that she was getting a firsthand look at the housing shortage as she and her family worked to make the transition.   

About Fort Atkinson, she said, “I have been incredibly impressed with the generosity of spirit here. With everyone I’ve talked to … everyone has just been so kind and helpful. It is such a welcoming environment and I have no hesitancy to move here. I am looking forward to it.”  

LeMire described herself as a lover of dogs, particularly greyhounds, although the family currently does not have pets. 

She enjoys cycling, walking, hiking and being outside with nature. 

“I love to go to the parks with the kids. They are very excited for the aquatic center,” she said, adding that she is looking forward to meeting members of the community.

People likely will find her on the bike trail and in the community’s parks.

“Anywhere where there is playground equipment, that’s where you’ll find me,” she said.