Edgewood hires Wilde as its manager

By Clare Jensen

The Signal
cjensen@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: July 17, 2008

Edgewood City Council has selected R. Kim Wilde, of Waunakee, Wis., as the new manager for the 12-year-old city.

Wilde, 54, grew up in Montana and spent the last eight years as village administrator for Waunakee. Before that, he was the city administrator in Snoqualmie for 11 years.

Wilde has five children (the youngest is a senior in high school) and a wife of 29 years.

He said he is excited to get back to the Northwest, and he believes he is a good fit for Edgewood.

Wilde has experience managing growth for a city. When he started out in both Snoqualmie and Waunakee they were on the verge of important changes, which he accepted as a challenge.

His nearly 20 years experience in growth management should bode well for the city of Edgewood, on the cusp of large developments and projects that could change the shape of the city.

“Edgewood is facing tremendous growth pressures. Managing that growth in such a way that is most beneficial to the community is going to be a challenge to Edgewood.

I know they want to maintain their community character, and small town characteristics, and natural areas.”

Wilde admits he has made a few mistakes in the past. In his very first city manager position, he did not assess the city as well as he should have, and it ended up not being a very good fit for him or the staff and city council, so he left after a mere eight months on the job.

He also tried his hand in decorating, which did not go over very well.

“We were painting city hall and trying to decide on the color. No one wanted to pick a color, so I stuck my neck out there and picked a color, and it was just awful. We had to repaint the whole thing.”

Mayor Jeff Hogan noted that out of the six candidates up for the job in Edgewood, Wilde was a clear choice.

“He just rose to the top,” Hogan said.

Hogan, Wilde, the city council and city staff agree that Wilde is a good fit for Edgewood.

Acting City Manager and Finance Director Janet Caviezel has been with the city since its inception. She agrees with Hogan, and stated the staff’s opinion of Wilde mirrored council’s decision.

“He’s very approachable, easy to talk to and very, very knowledgeable,” Caviezel said, adding that already having experience with Washington state laws is a plus.

Caviezel has been acting as manager since January this year after long-time manager Henry Lawrence resigned from the position. Caviezel looks forward to the new manager coming in to take over.

“We need that leadership in here. We need the extra help. I think he’ll work well with everyone.”

Wilde said he is excited to get to work in Edgewood, especially in regard to the many projects the city has its hands in at this point.

“There are a whole bunch of projects that are happening at the same time. [The city] needs to try to prioritize, manage, and make sure that those projects all happen – make sure nothing is left out, and a ball is not dropped,” he said. “That’s why I’m really anxious to get out there.”

He is expected to begin work in mid-August.

Wilde will also be the first city manager to work out of the long-awaited Civic Center/City Hall building, which is scheduled to open in October.

Just don’t ask him to pick the color.

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