Patrick Brown, (City of Grand Island, Courtesy)
GRAND ISLAND – Grand Island Mayor Roger Steele is recommending that Patrick Brown be appointed as City Administrator, effective Sept. 23.
Brown is currently Chief Financial Officer, Assistant City Administrator, and Acting Finance Director/City Treasurer.
The City Council will take action on Steele’s recommendation at the Sept. 23 City Council meeting. Brown would replace Laura McAloon, whom Steele asked to resign.
In a Sept. 10 Facebook post, the city announced that “the City of Grand Island and City Administrator Laura McAloon had parted ways.”
In a memo from the Mayor in the City Council packet for its Sept. 23 meeting, Steele wrote, “By virtue of his years of dedicated service to the City of Grand Island he holds the executive and administrative qualifications required for this position, and has demonstrated history of actual experience and knowledge required to faithfully and skillfully fulfill the duties of the City Administrator.”
Brown has accepted the Mayor’s offer, Steele wrote in his memo.
The memo states that if a subsequent Mayor opt not to reappoint Brown as City Administrator, Brown will be entitled to resume his current position as Assistant City Administrator, which shall be held open for up to the first two years of the next Mayoral term to facilitate this option for continued service.
According to Spencer Schubert, Communications Manager for the City of Grand Island:
Brown’s hiring salary, pending council approval Sept. 23, would be $254,000.
Brown has been with the city since 2018, when he joined as Finance Director/City Treasurer. He has served as Assistant City Administrator since 2023.
Before his tenure in Grand Island, he held leadership roles in Colorado cities including Boulder, Centennial and Arvada, where he spearheaded tax administration reforms, implemented new revenue systems, and developed innovative community engagement programs.
He began his career with the State of Arkansas as a Tax Auditor Supervisor, overseeing a team of auditors responsible for state tax compliance.
“The Mayor is recommending this because Patrick is more than qualified for the position, and when he was promoted to Assistant City Administrator two years ago, it was with the notion that he would be ready for this type of jump if the time came,” Schubert said.
“The suggestion is being put forth because the Mayor genuinely feels they wouldn’t find a better candidate during a nationwide search. The timeline of a search is also an issue both time-wise and cost-wise. They typically take about six months and can be very expensive,” Schubert said.
Brown will continue doing the duties he’s doing now, on top of his new City Administrator responsibilities.
