Marshall Municipal Utilities General Manager David Schelkoph discussed a potential timeline for hiring his replacement during Wednesday's MMU Commission meeting. In February, Schelkoph formally gave notice that he intends to retire this year.

MARSHALL — The general manager of Marshall Municipal Utilities plans to retire this year. The search for a new manager candidate could officially start later this month, members of the MMU Commission learned Wednesday.

MMU General Manager David Schelkoph, who was hired in 2020, said his decision to retire wasn’t an unexpected one.

“I told the (MMU) commissioners when I was hired, it would be five or six years,” Schelkoph told the Independent. Shelkoph said his time at MMU was meant to give potential internal candidates for general manager a chance to develop and be “more ready for the opportunity.”

Schelkoph formally gave notice of his intent to retire in February.

MMU will be working with consultant Edward Williams of Baker Tilly to conduct a search for a new general manager, Schelkoph said. Members of the MMU Commission heard more about the planned search timeline during their regular meeting Wednesday.

“We’re going to be starting here very soon,” Schelkoph said.

Schelkoph said some current MMU employees were considering applying for the general manager position. Although Wednesday’s meeting was an open one, members of the MMU management team, including electric operations manager Tony Mead and water operations manager Jeff Larson, left the room during discussion of the hiring process.

One part of the discussion Wednesday was a potential salary range for the general manager position, that was developed by Baker Tilly.

“He put together a minimum, a mid, and a max salary range,” Schelkoph said. “(Williams) has given us a minimum of $154,000, to a maximum of $208,000, depending on experience and education.” He said the commission would not be tied to the proposed dollar amounts.

“It gives information to the individual that’s applying – here’s your window,” Schelkoph said.

The range was developed with the help of salary survey data from municipal utilities in Austin and Brookings, as well as a 2024 wage survey from the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association.

Under Baker Tilly’s timeline, the search for a new general manager is planned to launch this month. Interviews with finalist candidates could tentatively be held in early June, and a finalist could be hired by the end of June.

Schelkoph told MMU commissioners that he would offer some flexibility on when he retired, in case more time was needed in the search process.

Before coming to Marshall, Schelkoph served as city administrator and utility manager in Valley City, N.D. He had 26 years of experience in the electric utility field, and also served in the Air Force and the Air Guard.

When he retires, Schelkoph said he and his wife planed to move closer to family in Ohio. “We feel really led to be closer to our grandkids,” he said.

“We are so blessed to have been able to have been able to have lived in Marshall these last five years,” Schelkoph said. He said MMU had hard-working and professional employees. “It has been my pleasure to work with them and serve this community,” he said.

In the past five years, MMU has completed some major projects. The utility completed the process of moving Marshall’s electric service lines underground, and constructed a new treatment plant to pre-soften city water. In the past year, a solar farm generating electricity for Marshall customers went online, and MMU has been planning to build a new generator facility to replace a 55-year-old turbine generator.

The new generator plant, with a projected total cost of about $18 million, will be paid for with the help of an incentive program from Missouri River Energy Services (MRES). The incentive program means the generator project will not mean additional costs for MMU customers, Schelkoph said.