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Nixa Names its Police Chief as the New City Administrator

City of Nixa

The City of Nixa has a new city administrator.  Jimmy Liles stepped out of his role as Nixa’s police chief at Monday night's city council meeting and into his new role as city administrator.

"I'll tell you, I'm very excited about the opportunity.  You know, I'm pretty honored and humbled that the mayor and city council elected to hire me to fill that position, said Liles.

Nixa City Council performed two national searches and received applications from more than 100 “highly qualified” people from across the country, according to a news release from the city.

Mayor Brian Steele said, in Lile’s 19 years with the City of Nixa, he has “proven himself to be an exceptional leader who demonstrates the highest level of professionalism, honesty and ethics.  At the same time, he has shown that he strives to innovate and has a vision for Nixa's future."

Liles said, having been with the city so long will be an advantage as he takes over the city administrator position.

"I've been able to learn a lot, not just about municipal government, but I've been able to learn a lot about the city of Nixa...I've built some really great relationships not only within the organization itself but within the community," said Liles.

Nixa departments are currently working on preparing their budgets for the 2019 fiscal year, according to Liles, and one of his first priorities will be to get involved with the budget process. 

"And I think that's going to be one of my biggest priorities is just to get in there and visit with each one of those department heads and get to, you know, look over the budgets and work with them to ensure that we continue to provide the same level of service that we have for many years now," said Liles.

Moving forward, he said, the city needs to focus on economic development.

"I think we need to make sure that as a city that we're doing everything that we can to support our current local businesses and small businesses in our community but also we need to do what we can to make sure that we're attracting new businesses," Liles said.

Teamwork is important, according to Liles who said he believes in situational or adaptable leadership.  Nixa has a talented leadership staff, he said, "that works extremely well together" with department heads who "are really experts in their field."  He said he'll work to make sure they're all headed in the same direction moving forward.

Former city administrator Brian Bingle retired last November.  Doug Colvin has served as interim city administrator since then.  He’ll now serve as assistant city administrator and as director of Nixa Utilities and Public Works. 

Nixa Police Major Joe Campbell has been appointed by Nixa City Council to serve as Interim Chief of Police following the appointment of Liles as Nixa’s new city administrator.

According to the city of Nixa, the city council plans to revisit the status of the position sometime after the first of the year.

Michele Skalicky has worked at KSMU since the station occupied the old white house at National and Grand. She enjoys working on both the announcing side and in news and has been the recipient of statewide and national awards for news reporting. She likes to tell stories that make a difference. Michele enjoys outdoor activities, including hiking, camping and leisurely kayaking.