Prosperity, growth attracted new city manager to Monroe
Larry Lester spent 26 years in Hillard before his new job.
MONROE — There is a new face leading one of Butler County’s fastest-growing communities.
Larry Lester, former operations director of the city of Hilliard, where he worked for more than 26 years, was recently approved as Monroe’s city manager, replacing William “Bill” Brock, who served for 20 years.
Lester’s three-year contract, unanimously approved by the seven City Council members, calls for an annual salary of $165,000, according to city documents.
Lester has served as operations director in Hillard, a community with 40,000 residents, since 2020. Before that, he served as deputy director of public service and right-of-way service manager.
The Monroe position had been vacant since Oct. 6 after Brock resigned and took a position with the engineering firm CT Con- sultants in Blue Ash.
There were 19 applicants and, following the vetting process by Management Advisory Group, seven appli- cants were interviewed by City Council, including Assistant City Manager Kacey Waggaman and Jen- nifer Patterson, assistant to the Monroe city manager.
Here are five questions we recently asked Lester: attractive community that appeals to citizens, busiAt Hilliard, I learned nesses and visitors alike. important lessons in bal- The city of Monroe is a great anced growth, high-qual- place to live, work and play. ity services, city aesthet- Monroe is open for business ics, infrastructure improve- and residency, and we have ment and innovation over a dedicated team ready to my 26-year tenure. My previ- serve the community. ous time in the city of Dublin has also helped me under- stand how to be an effec- tive public servant.