The Wells City Council made it official Monday night, hiring a new city administrator.

The council voted unanimously to approve the contract for Jeremy Germann. It includes a salary listing of $43,500.

Germann will start his position in Wells on Monday, Oct. 6, if everything goes according to plan.

Germann is currently the village administrator in Aberdeen, Ohio. In a telephone interview with the Register, Germann says he is still on the job there and trying to arrange for the move to Minnesota.

“There are a lot of details to get done, but we hope to make the move to Wells before Oct. 6,” he says.

Both he and his wife, Amee, are very excited about coming to Wells and Minnesota. It will be the first time either has lived in this state.

“I grew up in southern Ohio,” Germann says. He attended college both at Ohio University for his B.S. degree and Northern Kentucky University for his masters degree in Public Administration.

He and his wife did a stint in the Peace Corps together, working in Bucharest, Romania. That was their only previous move away from Ohio.

Germann says he saw the Wells position advertised on websites and was intrigued.

“I checked it out and the more I investigated Wells the more interested I became,” he says. “It seems to be a very nice city.”

Germann adds he feels the move to Wells is a great opportunity for him, and he hopes to do a lot to help the city any way he can. He hopes to find a place to live within the city limits, but has not located housing yet.

The Wells council has been working for many months to hire a new administrator to replace Ronda Allis.

The search included getting down to two finalists, but not hiring either before starting the process over.