PURCELLVILLE, Va. MARCH 13, 2018 — The Purcellville Town Council voted to appoint David A. Mekarski as the Town’s eighth Town Manager since 1975. Mr. Mekarski, a member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and a Certified Planner as designated by the American Planning Association (APA), was one of twenty-nine candidates initially applying for the position and one of three finalists who met with the Town’s leadership team staffed by Department Heads and other key staff and the Town Council. Town Council conducted a series of interviews and discussions with the identified finalists over a period of three weeks. Mayor Kwasi Fraser noted that the Council had a difficult choice in narrowing the candidate pool to one finalist due to the strong body of work each possessed and the varied experiences that they brought to the Town and the interview process. As part of the final decision Mayor Fraser indicated that, “With over two decades of municipal management, David Mekarski brings to our town a wealth of professional, practical, and educational experiences to successfully guide Purcellville through the challenges and opportunities before us. He has demonstrated leadership in the areas of crisis management, revenue enhancement, business development, and comprehensive long range planning. During his tenure as the City Manager of Vero Beach, Florida, he led his community through two unprecedented natural disasters within a thirty day period. Moreover, as the Village Administrator for the Village of Matteson, Illinois, Mr. Mekarski’s leadership re-energized the local business economy and expanded the local economic base. As our new Town Manager, Mr. Mekarski will be committed to becoming involved with the social fabric of our community, to giving voice and volume to the needs of our citizens, and to leading our town operations to continue its delivery of best in class services. I welcome Mr. Mekarski to our town and look forward to working with him to advance the mission, vision, and core values of our community.”
Mr. Mekarski who served for eleven years as Village Manager for the Village of Olympia Fields, Illinois, a south Chicago suburb, started his career as a Planner in Slidell, Louisiana and brings fifteen years of planning and economic development experience and twenty-two years of local government management experience gained in Florida, Illinois and Michigan to the Purcellville Manager’s position. Olympia Fields, a village in Cook County has a population of 4,988 (2010) and the community grew around the prestigious Olympia Fields Country Club, originally established in 1915. Mr. Mekarski earned a Bachelors in Arts in Political Science from the State University of New York, Buffalo and two Master’s Degrees, one in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New Orleans and the second in Public Administration, from Oakland University in Michigan. In addition, Mekarski has attended the Menninger Leadership Center and the Harvard School of Government Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government. He has led numerous innovative economic development and planning efforts gaining recognition by ICMA in 2004 as one of six recipients of a ‘best practices’ award for development of an economic development strategy.
Mr. Mekarski will begin his duties in Purcellville in early April upon relocation from his Flossmoor, Illinois home.
