Janesville Appoints Army Colonel For City Manager Post

Surprisingly, there is little information on the Web about Col. Mark Freitag, who will soon be ending his commission as deputy commander of the U.S. Army in Alaska to become Janesville's next city manager.

Expected to begin his new job in Janesville on December 1st, Freitag won the administrative appointment in a unanimous decision by the city council from a final pool of five contestants, including the dedicated and capable assistant city manager, Jay Winzenz. Winzenz has been and will continue filling in as acting city manager until Freitag takes the helm. The city managers' post was vacated when Eric Levitt was appointed to run the city administration in Simi Valley California.

Of course it's way too early to tell as much still remains to be seen what a decorated military man could do to restore public confidence in our city government, a declining morale among civilian employees, or how he will deal with the embedded divide and conquer mentality of the establishment community masquerading as the optimist club. It might be more amusing just watching what their expectations were by choosing military for the position, over choosing one of our own from fiercely proud Janesville - no offense meant to the colonel.

Welcome to Janesville, Sir.