City of Kissimmee commissioners made a good decision Monday in tapping Deputy City Manager Mike Steigerwald to replace retiring City Manager Mark Durbin.

The 16-year city employee knows the ropes and we believe he would do a good job as the city’s top administrator once Durbin gives up his duties Aug. 31. Durbin also has been grooming Steigerwald for the job.

We believe all three of our local governments – the city of St. Cloud first by tapping Tom Hurt for its top job, then Osceola County deciding to negotiate a contract with Interim County Manager Don Fisher and now Kissimmee negotiating with Steigerwald – made the right choices by promoting from within when there is a qualified person available and willing to fill the top administrative position.

Tapping someone already on staff can raise morale as well as save the considerable expense of conducting statewide or national searches, which do not always produce positive results in the long run, as we have seen with county government and the turnover there of county managers. In addition, promoting from within also generates additional opportunities for current staff, in that the deputy city manager's job now has to be filled and so on down the line.

By promoting current staff to top positions, local governments bring on people who are knowledgeable about the communities in which they work and are familiar with local issues. They also are in a good position to understand regional and state issues and see what impact those might have on local lives.

Our two cities and our county government certainly face challenging times ahead and we need dedicated administrators to carryout out our elected officials’ policy decisions – some of which may require unpopular actions. We need administrators who can deliver bad news – such as job cuts – in a firm, humane and responsible manner.

We also are confident that Steigerwald, Fisher and Hurt will be able to collaborate on issues that carry over from one government jurisdiction to another. In the future, these top officials, for example, may be asked to figure out ways to cut overall government spending, such as consolidation of services.

Yes, there are critics of all three top administrators but, taken as a whole, we believe that – like Hurt and Fisher before him – Steigerwald is up to the task at hand. And we wish him the best of luck.