SCOTT CITY NAMES FIRST ADMINISTRATOR

SCOTT CITY -- John Saxton was named Scott City's first city administrator at Monday night's city council meeting.

Saxton, 44, comes to Scott City from Peoria, Ill., where he has been the Peoria County's personnel director for more than 800 employees. He had been at Peoria since 1988.

He will earn $32,000 a year to oversee all city departments and handle the city's financial matters.

"It will be interesting to be back in a generalist position after six years in personnel," Saxton said.

"We are certainly happy to have John aboard," Mayor Larry Forhan said. "We have great expectations for him and feel that he will be able to fulfill them."

Councilwoman LaDonna Phelps said Saxton has the type of experience to better organize the city government.

She said it will help the city to have someone to take care of business on a daily basis.

To introduce Saxton to the community, the council has scheduled an open house at City Hall Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. to give citizens a chance to meet the new city administrator.

A return to his native state of Missouri was one of the things that attracted him to Scott City, said Saxton, who was raised in the St. Louis area.

Another attraction was that Scott City is a river city.

"And of course, the possibility of growth is attractive," Saxton said. "The city seems to be on the verge of explosive growth."

Planning for that growth and working with developers sounds exciting, Saxton said.

Being the first city administrator doesn't bother him. It is something Saxton has done before.

In 1973, Saxton earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Drury College in Springfield. He finished his master's degree in public administration at the University of Kansas at Lawrence in 1975.

A licensed commercial pilot, Saxton owns a four-seat Mooney airplane and he has a master's degree in aviation safety management from Central Missouri State University at Warrensburg.

Saxton's first involvement in city government was from 1974 to 1977 when he was an assistant city manager and airport manager for Dodge City, Kan.

He was city manager in Malvern, Ark., in 1977, moving later that year to Maplewood, a St. Louis suburb. He was Maplewood's first administrator and manager.

At Maplewood, he obtained grants through the state's Community Development Block Grant program and for personnel administration and economic development for downtown rehabilitation.

Saxton worked for Sammons Communications in the cable TV industry from 1980 to 1986 and was a general manager for cable systems in Jacksonville, Ill., and Whittier, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles.

Saxton had a stint as city administrator from 1986 to 1988 at Higginsville, a small town about 50 miles east of Kansas City.

He obtained the city's first community development block grant, secured a state airport development grant and introduced 911 emergency telephone service.

Saxton said he plans this week to meet residents, learn the lay of the land and start to know the city employees and their responsibilities.

Saxton and his wife, Linda, have been married 11 years and have two daughters: Erica, who will be 10 next month; and Valerie, 3.

Linda Saxton, a St. Louis native, is a student in the physical therapy assistant program at a community college in East Peoria, Ill.