BROOKINGS – Jake Meshke thinks Brookings is the right place to take the next step in his career, so he’s taken on the job of assistant to the city manager.
He started March 20 and has been impressed with the way the city operates.
“Just really great people, really looking out for the best interests of this community,” he said.
He’s looking forward to contributing to that teamwork.
“It’s a very exciting community. A lot of great things have been done. I also think there are a lot of great things that we can continue to do and different avenues we can continue to explore,” Meshke said.
Getting to know people will be important, on the job and personally.
“I came here all by myself, no family, no pets,” he said.
Making big leaps is in his comfort zone and he’s looking forward to the challenge.
“I just saw this tremendous opportunity,” Meshke said.
Getting started
Meshke grew up in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, about 20 minutes south of Green Bay.
“I always preface that by saying I’m not a Packers fan because that seems to be the first question whenever I mention Green Bay,” Meshke said.
After he graduated from high school in Kaukauna, he attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for a couple of years, starting off taking business courses, “with the eventual plan to go to law school and be a lawyer,” Meshke said.
The problem was that was during the recession.
“I read a stat in one of the papers that there were more lawyers working at department stores in the clothing department at that time than actually working in law firms,” he said.
That made him rethink his choice.
“I jumped into political science because I thought I wanted to be a politician,” Meshke said.
His uncle had served as president of the Kaukauna council and as a representative in the state assembly, the Wisconsin equivalent of the House. His uncle suggested city management, so Meshke took an introductory public administration course to learn about the professional side of city management.
“I thought it was very intriguing because I’ve always considered myself to be the technical, wonky side a little bit if you would … likes playing with spreadsheets, kind of getting into the nuts and bolts, the hows and the whys,” he said.
He transferred to Arizona State University because it’s a top-ranked school for city management and would give him a chance to qualify for the Marvin Andrews Fellowship if he went on to grad school. He earned his bachelor’s degree in metropolitan studies.
“I actually won the Outstanding Undergraduate Award for the School of Public Affairs, so it was a nice honor to kind of finish off my undergraduate degree with,” Meshke said.
He applied for and got the Marvin Andrews Fellowship, which covered his tuition costs for his master’s degree, provided two years paid internship experience, and provided a mentor, who was a city manager in the Phoenix metropolitan area. It also included travel costs to several professional conferences.
“Great experience, great program,” Meshke said.
He graduated with a master’s degree in public administration, with an urban management concentration and was ready for the workforce.
Getting experience
First, he took a job as a management analyst in the city of Casa Grande, Arizona.
“That was more of a role where I worked on reports, analysis, some special projects, exploring ambulance service feasibility, doing a financial analysis on our golf course. Actually led the efforts to demolish a building, so it was kind of a nice taste of ‘this is local government,’” he said.
He headed home to Wisconsin to be the assistant village manager for the village of Bayside, just north of Milwaukee. “Community of about 5,000, affluent. It was a good experience,” Meshke said.
“When you work in a small community like that, you really have the opportunity to do a little bit of everything and anything because my boss at the time, when he hired me, said ‘You know, you look left and you look right, you find out it’s just you,’” Meshke said.
He worked on the sanitary storm sewer, storm water, and road capital budget and applied for grant funding for things like trees and storm water.
“I think we received about $150,000 in 2 years,” he said.
“I was heavily involved in the annual budget process and the budget document preparation. Oversaw the city’s performance management function and helped launch and really monitor mobile application for service requests and different links to city resources,” Meshke said.
He was there about 2 1/2 years, at which point, he applied for the assistant to the city manager job with Brookings.
“I was not dissatisfied with where I was,” he said, adding that his job search was “very selective.”
Good impression
Meshke thinks he’s found the right fit in Brookings.
He likes that the utilities, hospital, liquor store, even the event center are all under the city’s umbrella.
“The other thing that really stood out to me about the city was just the tremendous opportunity with the local partners,” like South Dakota State University, and “a very strong local business community,” he said.
During the interview process, he did a case study on the Old Armory and liked getting to see who is going to come together to work on it and “what can be done with an amazing site like that,” Meshke said.
Brookings’ size was a factor, “that kind of 20,000 to 50,000 range,” he said. “It’s kind of like the ‘Three Bears’ … You kinda feel, ‘you know what, this is just right,’ kind of that happy medium.”
He also liked the people.
“It’s a city that you come to and immediately you just feel like you fit in,” Meshke said. “I can’t say enough about the people here. They’ve been so welcoming, so kind, so that’s been great. The city is everything I’d hoped it would be and more.”
A larger town means more staff with more expertise, too.
“I’ve been very impressed with Paul (Briseno, city manager) and all the staff here with the city of Brookings, as well as our council members,” Meshke said.
He’s dived into learning what each department does, the current projects and goals, as well as getting to know the people with whom he works.
“A lot of my position is relationship based. As the assistant to the city manager, I don’t have any formal power,” Meshke said. “I have to have the trust and the respect of my peers for them to want to integrate me and involve me.
“My degree is one in the sense where I’m a generalist. Certainly not an engineer by trade, not an accountant by trade, none of those things … having very great department heads who are subject matter experts in the field … now I have the ability to kind of take a higher level approach and kind of be able to insert myself where there’s need,” Meshke said, adding he can help out when there’s a lot happening, take on special projects, and be a sounding board for staff. “I can take some things off their plate.”
One thing he’s looking forward to doing is applying for grants, so the city can access new revenue streams “and relieve that from the tax burden,” Meshke said.
“I’m happy to be here and just want to keep integrating myself into this community and just really see it move forward,” Meshke said.
Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.
