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Konrad Hildebrandt
Reference Notes
TAB 6
their departments then he helped them implement several of those ideas. He let directors
establish their own deadlines, allowing them a sense of ownership for their work. The staff knew
that he cared about them individually. One way he helped keep morale high was by having a
health day for staff. He found vendors who came to City Hall once a year to conduct vision and
hearing tests, develop exercise programs, and provide nutrition education. Each quarter he also
asked directors to read one book related to becoming a better manager then be prepared to
discuss the book they had chosen at their management meetings.
Mr. Hildebrandt not only lived in the City, he was also an active participant in its social life. He
drove around neighborhoods and came up with ideas which could be used to make improvement.
He attended high school sporting events and supported the local businesses by shopping there.
Emergency preparedness was one key task Mr. Hildebrandt accomplished. He put the
emergency response plan in place, built a city well, and contracted a company to call residents
with notifications of any emergencies facing the City. He built a new recreation facility that
offered unique programs, developed a Youth City Council, and pushed for the City to receive a
distinguished budgeting award.
Each year Mr. Hildebrandt published an annual brochure about the City. This brochure was
warmly referred to as ‘the state of the city brochure’. It included the budget, events, parks
information, how property taxes were calculated, and other information the general public
needed. He also had the website redesigned. The new site included polls and interactive
programs. Both the annual brochure and the website helped citizens understand the processes
used by the City’s administration and issues the Council faced.
Toward the end of his service in Cedar Hills, Mr. Hildebrandt received criticism for the way he
handled accusations against an employee. The City Engineer made a complaint that the Building
and Zoning Inspector had cheated on his exams and should not be in his position. Mr.
Hildebrandt explored the situation but found it impossible to find any definitive proof to support
the accusation; so he took no action against the Inspector. The City Engineer took the issue to
City Council, whose members then became upset with Mr. Hildebrandt. They decided that the
Inspector should have been fired, but Mr. Hildebrandt was unwilling, citing the possibility of a
potentially costly lawsuit. From that point he was unable to have an effective relationship with
the Council; so he resigned.
Mr. Hildebrandt should be commended for his integrity and hard work.
wonderful City Manager for any municipality.
He will make a
Words or phrases used to describe Konrad Hildebrandt:
Laid back,
Gets along with everyone,
Supports staff,
Pushes forward, and
Creative.
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