St. Cloud City Administrator Matthew Staehling to Leave for Duluth Role After 29 Years of Service

(KNSI) – St. Cloud’s city administrator is leaving to take the same gig in Duluth.

Matthew Staehling will be moving after serving the city for 29 years, first as assistant city attorney, then as city attorney and finally as administrator, beginning in 2016. His last day will be January 27th.

Staehling told KNSI News he’s looking forward to turning the page and starting a new chapter. “I’m excited about learning a new city, about meeting our new leadership team up there. Duluth is just a great destination, and certainly, I’m looking forward to the outdoor opportunities. And so, that’s going to be a nice setting for me personally, as well as professionally.”

As he looks back on his time as city administrator, Staehling talks about what’s been most gratifying to him. “I’m most proud of the team that we’ve assembled here, our section of department heads and going down into our division managers. I think we just have outstanding leadership here. And the city is in just a great position to continue to be successful because of that leadership.”

During his tenure, Staehling is credited with overseeing numerous initiatives and projects.

He has worked alongside Mayor Dave Kleis, retiring later this month after 20 years as mayor. He had only wholehearted praise for Staehling, “Duluth is really gaining a tremendous asset in Matt,” said Mayor Kleis. “I’ve had the good fortune of working with him my entire mayoral career. I’ve promoted him twice—once to City Attorney and later to City Administrator. He’s been a valuable partner to me and to the City of St. Cloud. He’ll be a valuable partner to Duluth, too, and I think he’ll benefit from and grow from the move to Duluth as well. I’m excited to see what he does there.”

Kleis says the position will be posted, and the process for selecting a new administrator will be up to Mayor-elect Jake Anderson when he takes over on January 13th.

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