Brentt Michalek, city administrator in Park Falls, Wis., has been hired to be city administrator in Hudson, Wis.

Michalek, 52, will start June 3.

Brentt Michalek (Courtesy photo)

Michalek said he was excited to help the Hudson City Council achieve its goals. “The city has a lot of immediate activities happening with the pressures of the urbanizing area,” he said. “I work at the will of the council.”

Michalek said he plans to help the council set a strategic plan for the city as soon as he starts on the job. “I think that will help the city look toward the future a good 10 to 20 years and see where they want to go,” he said. “It gives direction and priority to the city’s spending and things like that.”

Michalek has been city administrator of Park Falls, about three hours northeast of Hudson, since 2019. He also has been a member of the Chequamegon School Board since 2021; his term expires in April.

“I was asked to run for school board three years ago,” he said. “It was a discussion I had with my board and our city attorney, who drafted an opinion. The council unanimously approved on the condition that on issues where the city and school board would be in negotiations, I could not partake in school board activities.”

Grew up in Green Bay

Prior to taking the job in Park Falls, Michalek worked as the permitting manager for Network Real Estate in Green Bay, Wis., and director of conservation, planning and zoning for Sauk County, Wis. He also served as director of planning, zoning and construction resources for Emmet County, Mich.

Michalek, who grew up in Green Bay, has a master’s degree in environmental science and policy from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and a bachelor’s degree in regional analysis (urban and regional economic theory) planning, with a minor in mathematics, from the same school. He also has achieved all but dissertation status toward his doctorate in geography from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; his thesis was on the urbanizing of land and its effect on groundwater, he said.

Michalek and his wife, Sara, have two children: Lauren, 16, and Derek, 13.

More than 35 candidates applied to be city administrator. The four other finalists were:

Kristina Handt, interim city administrator in Forest Lake and former city administrator in Lake Elmo and Scandia and former village administrator of Village of Luck, Wis.
Renae Fry, former city administrator in North Branch, and former administrative coordinator in Sauk County, Wis.
Ryan Heise, city manager in Saugatuck, Mich., and former village administrator in Egg Harbor and former director of operations in Lakewood Ranch
William McCabe, city administrator in St. Augusta, Minn., and former city administrator of St. Charles, Minn., and former city administrator of Red Lake Falls.

Former city administrator Aaron Reeves left in November to be deputy director of public works in Boulder County, Colo. Reeves had served as city administrator since September 2019.

Mike Johnson, who serves as assistant city administrator and community development director, has been serving as interim administrator since Reeve’s departure.

Is he spelling his name right?

Now, what’s the deal with the spelling of Michalek’s first name, Brentt?

“I think it’s the correct way to spell it,” he said. “It was my parents’ choice. … My mother just liked the way it balanced out. She always thought it should have two ‘t’s.

“It happens all the time that people leave the ‘t’ off. When I respond, I just accidentally leave out the last letter of their name.”

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