Mesquite Swears In New City Manager

By AMY DAVIS

The Progress

A new Mesquite City Manager was sworn in on Monday morning, July 18 in the City Council Chambers. Peter Jankowski has been hired to the spot after the position stood vacant for several months. The appointment replaces Aaron Baker who resigned May 12, 2021.

In the brief ceremony, Jankowski swore to faithfully execute his duties to the best of his ability as well as to protect and defend the constitution of the United States of America.

While Mayor Al Litman is the ceremonial head of Mesquite, Jankowski will oversee the organizational operations of the city, serving as the city’s Chief Executive Officer. Jankowski will be responsible for directing day-to-day operations, supervising, facilitating, and coordinating all city departments, preparing budgets and more. Jankowski serves at the pleasure of the Mayor and city council members who appointed him.

“The process of finding a city manager isn’t easy these days,” said Mayor Al Litman. “We are exceptionally fussy as to who we bring onboard. We looked at a lot of potential candidates to fill this position. We narrowed it down and then I narrowed it down a second time and then I selected Peter. He has an extensive background and I think he is going to be a great fit for Mesquite.”

Jankowski, who holds a Juris Doctorate from the Franklin Pierce Law Center, has more than 20 years of upper-level local government management experience. He most recently served as the Town Manager for the Town of Cave Creek, AZ, where he served for three years before moving to Las Vegas. He previously served as chief executive for the Towns of Dudley, MA; Kittery, ME; Athol, MA; Gray, MA; and Milbridge, ME. He has also held elected office positions with the Town of Rollinsford, NH, and the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

Jankowski is originally from New Hampshire, but has lived throughout the New England area.
“I managed communities in Maine and Massachusetts,” Jankowski said. “Then I was in Arizona for three and a half years, Vegas for a year and now I am here.”
“It took me 15 years to convince my wife to move west,” Jankowski light-heartedly said.

Jankowski has three children who were at the perfect age to move when he accepted a city manager position in Arizona. “I have been trying to stay in the southwest ever since, because I have family here,” he said. “I have two kids in college, and I got a third one trying to decide what he wants to do. We looked briefly at going back to New England, but we just really enjoy the desert area. I don’t have to snowblow, or chip ice or shovel and I just really love that.”

Jankowski applied for the City Manager job through the ICMA job board, an association of professional city and county managers and other municipal employees.
“I was looking for communities that made sense to me,” Jankowski said. “Mesquite checked all the boxes. So I thought I would apply and give it a try.”

As far as the path for city manager, Jankowski’s path was not traditional. “I was an attorney in my prior life,” Jankowski explained. “I got out of the service and went to the University of New Hampshire. When I got out of college, I got active in my hometown. I became a selectman which is like being a member of the city council, I served on the budget committee, I was a state rep. So mine was more ‘on-the-job training.’”

“We used to talk to the city attorney all the time for a variety of different questions,” Jankowski added. “So I went to law school because I was the guy who always had all the questions.”

Jankowski practiced law for a year and a half then took a job in Maine as a city manager because he was interested in that. Jankowski has managed communities with a broad range of populations from 1,100 to the 20,000 range.

“I am so excited to be here!” Jankowski said. “I am excited to meet the folks in the town. I am excited to work with the Mayor and the council and staff. I have an open-door policy, so people can always come and see me.”
“What I like about the job, is that you are always doing a variety of different things and working with different people and different issues,” he added.

Jankowski concluded good-naturedly saying with a chuckle, “I have a strong New England accent and sometimes I speak a little too fast.”
We won’t hold that against him.