Photo by Jim Muchlinski Stephanie LaBrune began her duties last week as Tyler’s new city administrator. She comes to city hall with 12 years of experience at the Pipestone County Conservation and Zoning Office.

TYLER — After 12 years of experience in county government, Stephanie LaBrune is performing similar work as Tyler’s city administrator.

LaBrune started her new job at Tyler’s city office last week. She was chosen by Tyler city officials after being one of three finalists to interview for the position.

She replaces Robert Wolfington, who resigned as administrator earlier this summer to accept the city manager position in Montevideo.

“I enjoyed my work in Pipestone County government,” LaBrune said. “One of my long-term goals was to move up to more of a management role, probably in public administration. When the job in Tyler opened up, I decided it could be a good opportunity.”

She said her first day in a city administrative role included a meeting to discuss specifics of a water retention pond for the new K-12 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton school planned at the school site on the west side of Tyler.

The meeting included RTR School Superintendent Dave Marlette and consultants from the Boulton and Menk engineering firm. LaBrune brought a wealth of background knowledge to the meeting because of her prior work with land use planning as well as soil and water conservation.

Plans for the school campus were one of a group of items that indicated how Tyler is a dynamic community with plenty of city administrative projects.

“I’m looking forward to helping as Tyler works toward its goals,” LaBrune said. “There are many good things happening. It’s included progress with the school, the hospital and public infrastructure.”

She added that all of those factors point to very good potential with other areas of community development, such as new housing and growth of the local business community.

LaBrune is a graduate of Pipestone High School and Southeastern Technical College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She worked at Fey Industries in Edgerton as a customer service specialist before becoming employed by Pipestone County.

Her husband, Ryan, operates a farm with cattle and also a cabinetry business. He’s a graduate of RTR High School, which has provided a knowledge of Tyler and the surrounding area that she’s started to expand in her new job role.

“I’m having good opportunities to meet more people and learn more about the community,” she said. “I also have a great staff. It’s a good foundation as the city decides how to manage tax dollars and how to provide the best possible service to citizens.”

Based her prior public service experience, she’s seen how long-range planning often proves important to the process of reaching community-based goals.

She said one area of city government that’s likely to see extensive goal-setting in the next few years is Tyler’s municipal utilities. The planning efforts will shape how Tyler, as a rural community, will stay in step with 21st century energy markets.

“It’s an achievement for a community to operate its own utility system,” she said. “Many other small and large ones outsource it, but city ownership has worked out well for Tyler. We’ll be making sure that it stays on track. Costs will be an important consideration.”

Tyler Mayor Joan Jagt said LaBrune stood out among other applicants because of her strong public administration background.

City officials were also impressed by LaBrune’s communication skills and interest in the future of the Tyler area.

“Another thing that impressed us about Stephanie is that she’s clearly willing to learn,” Jagt said. “City government is a new thing for her, just like much of it is new for me as a first-year mayor. I think she’ll be a very valuable part of our city governing process.”