Mayor introduces new interim city administrator during meeting

The city of Loris hired an interim city administrator after hours of interviews with the mayor, council members and the city attorney. Dennis Drozdak was introduced at the council meeting after an executive session to discuss personnel issues.

Drozdak provided a brief history of his experience and stated that he will begin his duties as interim city administrator on Monday, Aug. 12.  “The first thing that I will focus on is the audits, or lack of,” he said, “and second on my list is the financials.” 

He said his top strengths are to receive input from others to make an informed decision, strategic planning and that he is an over-achiever. His education, knowledge and 44 years experience in business management, auditing and finance will be an asset to the city.  He was the city clerk treasurer in the town of Lyman, moving up to city administrator before retiring in 2012.  Drozdak is an experienced writing grant writer. He was also a professor at an upstate university teaching auditing two days a week.

Coming out of retirement Drozdak says that he is excited to begin the position and to work with city clerk and treasurer, Kenya Wright.  He said his focus is making the city ready for the next city administrator, and says he would like to continue through spring of 2020 as he creates a one to three year plan for the city.  “I would like to work through the 2020-21 budget which will be ready the second week in April 2020.”  He also is focusing on the financials to provide city council a copy of the financials each month in their council packets.  “The council needs to be informed of how the city is spending and what revenue we receive.

Drozdak’s vision and focus is on improving the software program with Nicholson.  He said that he, Harrelson and Wright will meet with Nicholson for two days next week to assure the programs and updates will help with reports and documentation, especially when it comes to financials and reports from other department heads.  “We must be up-to-date and on the same page with Nicholson to make the program work with us.”  His years of experience in IT computer departments and creation and development of bringing a computer system into a company who was paper oriented is an accomplishment in itself as he understands the process of the software and the usage for the city employees. 

He has many ideas and one is to contact Coastal Carolina University to have an intern enter a program to assist he and Wright with many duties. 

He said, “If a resident is unable to attend a council meeting, I have an open door policy. I suggest that they write a letter to the mayor and carbon copy me. I will respond to the concerns.”  He states he wants to be transparent and is willing to take time to guide the different departments to efficiency, especially when it comes to the software we use.”   He also stated that he will join Harrelson in the Coffee with the Mayor meetings each Thursday morning to get a feel of what the people of Loris would want to see for their city.

“I am looking forward to the challenge of preparing the next city administrator with a clear path in all aspects of the job;” said Drozdak, “The only way to go is up as far as financial reporting is.”  He stated he gives Wright credit for sticking in there and handling what she has been experiencing and the frustration of entering reports from different programs into one to make her reports. 

Drozdak grew up in Connecticut and attended Rider University; he received a scholarship at GA Tech and graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Business Administration with a Master in Accounting. “Having majored in management and mastered in accounting, these are two very strong disciplines for management and accounting for the city of Loris.” he said. 

Drozdak is a recent widower. His wife Jean (Jeanie) passed away on March 11 of this year after a three year battle with cancer.  He continues to mourn the loss of his wife and love of his life. He has one daughter and two grandchildren who live in Alabama.  He lives in Columbia and will stay locally during the working days and return home for the weekends.

Harrelson said, “I went to the MASC meeting and I reached out to our representative Charlie Barrineau, Field Services Manager, to help find someone to fill the position of city administrator.” He continued, “He reached out and found a few names and Dennis was one of the names that I reached out to.”  “He just had what it took,” said Harrelson, “I called the mayor of the town of Lyman in which he had only good things to say about Dennis.”  He said, “We are looking for someone to fill the position of city administrator; however, we have someone in place who is more than qualified.”