Paine begins tenure as city administrator
Staff reporter
He's a career city administrator and knows how to get the job done.
Larry Paine, the new Hillsboro city administrator, has been involved in city government for more than three decades, serving in the highest appointed position in various cities for nearly 20 years.
He knows that he will have to earn the trust of residents, which takes time.
Paine comes to Hillsboro from Concordia, a city of 5,700 residents, and a long line of economic development successes.
"In Concordia, we were able to pull together the private sector for development purposes," Paine said.
So, what was the attraction to Hillsboro?
Paine and wife Susan had been to Hillsboro a couple of times and have a feel of the city.
The door at Concordia was closing, Paine said, when the city clerk he fired was elected to the city council. Another door opened with the administrator's job opening at Hillsboro, and he decided to take a shot at it.
"Right now I'm getting my arms around the city budget," Paine said. He'll concentrate on capital improvement projects and completing other projects that have either been started or are waiting to be started.
Since his appointment by the City of Hillsboro, Paine already had been working with the city council and city employees. Officially starting his job Monday just meant doing it full-time.
Paine considers finances to be his strong point.
"I've been doing municipal budgets every year since 1975," he said, sometimes more than one budget in a year's time.
Such is the case this year. Paine completed the Concordia city budget and now will complete the Hillsboro city budget.
The world of economic development also is important to him.
"I don't know if anybody can sit in this chair (administrator's) and not be involved in economic development," Paine said. He said he was looking forward to working with Clint Seibel, Hillsboro Development Corp., and Hillsboro Ventures, Inc., so "we can build some things together."
"The Hillsboro business community looks solid," Paine said, but there's always room for growth. He also was impressed with a near full downtown business district.
What most impressed Paine was the number of employees in the city.
"There are 2,500 jobs in the community with a population of 3,000 people," Paine said, which made "my eyebrows go up."
For the seasoned city official this means there are a significant number of people outside the city limits who work in Hillsboro.
Being a college town also is a big plus.
"Students bring a new sense of freshness," Paine said. "During the summer, the town feels dead. When the kids return, life comes back. It's like spring in the fall."
Listening to residents and employees is important to Paine, saying anyone can have an opportunity to speak with him.
Paine hopes by talking with residents, he can learn more about the community. He won't be offended if some pass over him and go straight to the council.
"Some may want to talk to the council members because they know and trust them," Paine said. City staff will have access to Paine's schedule for appointments to be made.
Paine's wife is a home health care worker and plans to work for the same company in McPherson that she did work for in Concordia.
The couple has two children — a son, Brock, 24, and a daughter, Brynn, 22. Both graduated from a Christian college in Iowa and are technical writers.
Brock is negotiating with a company in the Kansas City area, Paine said, and Brynn is moving to Colorado Springs, Colo., to serve as an editor and write Sunday school curriculum.
Paine is a California native, grew up in Bakersfield, and earned a bachelor's degree from San Jose State University. He served two years in the U.S. Army as a public information officer.
He served four years as city administrator in Concordia, and city manager at Baldwin City.
Paine's other city job experiences were in Tacoma, Wash., Yuma, Ariz., San Diego, Calif., Jerome, Idaho, and Cave Creek, Ariz.
