Briseno gets rolling

New city manager learning the ropes to lead Brookings into the future

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BROOKINGS – Paul Briseno donned the mantle of Brookings city manager a couple of months ago and wants to guide the city into the future. 

To do that, he plans to get to know how the city runs, what the city council and residents’ dreams are and what moves will be in the city’s best interests.

He likes what he’s seen so far as he meets city staff and residents and settles into the town – and he’s starting to see a little bit of that future.

Background

“Kind of a Midwest guy,” Briseno said and his history backs up that claim.

He grew up in Wood River, Nebraska, a little town of about 1,500. He earned a degree in business administration at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska; then a master’s degree in public administration at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas.

He went to Grand Island, Nebraska, in 2004 as assistant to the city manager, then moved on to Hays, Kansas, in 2009, where he was assistant city manager, staying about six years in both places. In 2015, he went to Kearney, Nebraska, where he was the assistant city manager.

He said he and his family loved Kearney and would have stayed, except for the job opening in Brookings when then-City Manager Jeff Weldon announced his retirement early in 2018.

“I wasn’t actively looking for a job,” Briseno said. 

Brookings came on his radar while he was in Hays and did a comprehensive plan with comparable university communities.

“One of those communities was Brookings, South Dakota, and from that point forward, I’ve always studied the community and it was on a short list that if it ever came open, would be a place I would like to live and become part of,” Briseno said.

He had a lot of reasons for liking the town: its size, city manager form of government, being a university community, arts, quality of life, low crime rate, culture, great school system, vibrant downtown and business district.

“The progressive nature … plenty of opportunities for the family and kids … Brookings had all of it,” Briseno said. “I knew that we had professional managers and staff here that could really assist me in achieving our goals.”

Briseno was one of 64 applicants and made the top 3 finalist list before being chosen as Brookings’ new city manager.

He’s been in Brookings since June 11, overlapping his time with former City Manager Jeff Weldon. 

“What was nice was that Jeff had agreed to stay on until the end of June. That gave me an opportunity to work with him to understand where we were operationally, not only with staff but also just as importantly with all of the projects that we have, specifically the budget,” Briseno said.

His family has since joined him here.

He and wife, Heidi, have four children. Oldest daughter, Julia, will stay in Kearney, where she’s attending college. Leanna will be a sophomore, Noah will be an eighth-grader, and Sofia will be a sixth-grader.

“They’re all very excited to come to Brookings and be a part of the community,” Briseno said.

New job, new city

With Weldon’s departure, Briseno continues to learn about his new job and city.

Briseno’s gone from being an assistant city manager to city manager, which is a change in itself.

“It’s a lot more responsibility, but my commitment to community has never changed. I give everything to the community in which I serve,” Briseno said.

He’s getting a lot of help.

“There’s an institutional knowledge here. When I go to different departments, it’s not uncommon to meet employees that have been here for 30-plus years. That speaks a lot for the organization, (how) they treat their employees,” Briseno said.

“I think the tough part is learning the history, the projects and the people, but all that takes time,” he said.

He’s grateful for Weldon’s help during the first four weeks.

“He was able to provide me with insight that you can’t attain from reading a book. Over the last four weeks, I’ve spent hours at city hall, trying to soak up all of the information from the previous studies, communication and efforts over the last 10 years,” Briseno said. “But that can only take me so far.”

What is really going to give him the pulse of the town is “creating relationships,” he said.

“What I’ve been doing over this last month is just really focusing on the operations, that includes meeting employees, building relationships with department heads and city council,” Briseno said. “I’ve even tried to attend all commission and task force meetings.”

Although Brookings has a lot of task forces and that makes for a very full calendar for him, he’s glad to see it.

“That’s great; that means that we have citizens willing to get involved. … It really speaks to the Brookings population, their commitment to the community and willingness to participate,” Briseno said.

He knows what his expanded duties encompass.

“Overseeing the operations through the department heads, working hand-in-hand with the city council, and of course, being responsive directly to the citizens and our staff, overseeing key projects that have a community-wide impact, and being the leader and planning five to 10 years out in advance and making critical strategic recommendations today,” Briseno said.

The future

Briseno has already learned some things about Brookings.

In some ways, the town faces similar challenges to other towns: lack of affordable housing, workforce issues, “and the growth of the community and matching the expenditures with revenue streams,” he said.

“I don’t know that I see any issues that we can’t overcome,” Briseno said optimistically.

He knows there will be a lot of work ahead. 

There are things like the preliminary 2019 budget, which he just finished presenting to the council, “assuring that we’re planning for tomorrow for many years to come but yet flexible to be opportunistic,” he said.

Other things on the horizon are the Brookings Marketplace, which will build “additional revenues through sales tax,” he said; the 20th Street South interchange grant application that was recently sent off; affordable housing and the availability of land, and the Old Armory.

But Briseno’s not worried.

“I sat down and thought a little about this,” he said. “I was just amazed at all the projects that we have going on here in Brookings right now. I think that speaks to our progressive nature here and the growth that we’re expecting, as well. There’s a lot of people coming to this town. I think it’s because of the quality of life and what Brookings has to offer.”

He knows the council has a list of priorities and goals and he will work to fulfill those.

“As far as my vision of the future of Brookings, I think Brookings as a community has already set its future and that’s based on who we are today,” Briseno said. “Brookings is a great community, progressive, always looking to the future.

“And because of that citizens’ participation, I think we’ll always be successful in identifying what needs to be done today to attain the future we want, the future we desire,” Briseno said. 

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.

Register photo: Paul Briseno stands by the Brookings sign in Pioneer Park. As the new city manager for Brookings, he is learning the ropes at city hall and getting to know the town. He couldn’t pass up the opportunity to come to Brookings because he thinks the town has a lot to offer. “Brookings is a great community, progressive, always looking to the future,” Briseno said.