      It’s now official – John Sutherland is signed, sealed, and delivered as the next Chadron city manager.
The city council last night approved a contract that has the veteran administrator starting June 1st at a salary of $100,000.
      Sutherland, who is in his late 60s, was at the council meeting and expressed his joy and excitement about the job. He was still excited after the meeting.
Sutherland retired as city manager of Lamar, Colo, in July 2019 and moved to Rapid City to be closer to family, but admits retirement didn’t fit him.
He says he felt he should be sharing his talents and experience with a smaller community, and Chadron struck him as a perfect match.
      That doesn’t mean Sutherland is coming in with preconceived ideas on changes at city hall or in the community. He wants to hear from everyone first.
Sutherland says he wants to work with city staff and the community in developing a plan for future action.
Sutherland got some added insights into Chadron city government last night when City Finance Office Jeanette Puzzo gave an extensive outline of what makes up the city budget and how the new budget to be adopted later this year will be created.
Puzzo’s very preliminary first revenue projection has a general fund of $4.351-million dollars, but she said the final number will almost certainly be different when the new budget is adopted in September – especially if new federal funds are included.