Or: The Case of the Manager’s Embrace
Due to multiple delays, DeKalb experienced some $1.5 million in cost overruns on two road and bridge projects that were completed in 2024. The city was able to cover the resulting budget deficits in 2025, but had to pull money out of the operating reserve to do it.
The city engineer resigned in March 2025. The extent of the overruns came to light after. City manager (CM) Bill Nicklas said he was “surprised to see bills that came in” and expressed surprise, also, that the engineer had quit.
Documents show how the CM handled the engineer and the aftermath.
Part 1: The ‘Embrace’ of the City Engineer
Did Nicklas suspect earlier than 2025 that the projects would go over budget? He must have. There were delays involving both. Also, the finance end reared its head in May 2024, when the city had to increase the payout to its contracted construction engineering firm from $160,000 to nearly $470,000. The clues were there.
Another indicator is the CM moved the city engineer from under the public works director to working directly for himself in 2025. This is unprecedented. I looked at 2026 and went back a decade as well. In no other organizational chart during the checked time period does the city engineer work directly under a CM except for this one, which the council approved in late 2024 for 2025.
Part 2: The Process of Letting Go
I came to the CM’s post-overrun response steps via a different question: why did Nicklas include a new position, “budget analyst,” in his office budget for 2026? This seemed like a job for someone in the Finance Department, not the CM’s office.
Reviews of minutes from 2026 budget meetings indicate two titles for a new position were kicked around during a meeting on August 18, 2025: “management analyst” and “project manager.” But a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) response — which specifically requested information about the CM’s new budget analyst job — instead yields a “senior management analyst” position dated August 21 and an “administrative coordinator” position dated November 3.
Here’s the first page of the job description for the “senior management analyst.” Notice it’s tied to the CM’s office, yet the first listed “essential function” relates to engineering and transportation.
Accompanying the above job description is a job posting (not shown) for the same position. I don’t know if the job actually was advertised.
Perhaps not, because a second job description, the “administrative coordinator” dated November, likewise provides support to the engineer but is tied to the transit manager now. CM has loosened his embrace.
Both the administrative coordinator and the budget analyst positions were approved by council for 2026.
So that’s the story: iron grip, flailing, letting go, budget bonus.