Elgin council names Robert Eads permanent city manager after executive session

The Elgin City Council voted unanimously Dec. 2 to appoint Interim City Manager Robert Eads as the city’s permanent city manager after meeting in executive session to discuss qualifications, compensation and terms of employment.

The council met in closed session to consider candidates for the city manager position and reconvened to formally confirm Eads’ appointment. Stacy Ford Osborne, acting public information officer, said the council’s vote was unanimous. Eads had served as interim city manager since September and took the permanent post effective Dec. 3. The council plans an official swearing-in at its Dec. 16 meeting.

City officials did not provide individual roll-call vote tallies in the meeting recap; the transcript records only that the council voted unanimously. The executive-session discussion that preceded the appointment focused on the candidate’s qualifications, compensation and terms of a proposed employment agreement, according to the meeting recap.

The appointment follows several months in which Eads has been serving in an interim capacity. No dissent or separate motions were recorded in the meeting summary. The council did not release the terms of employment during the public meeting summary; those details were not specified in the transcript.

Eads’ permanent appointment is the most significant personnel decision of the Dec. 2 meeting. The council will administer an official swearing-in at its next regularly scheduled meeting on Dec. 16.