The Charleston City Council Wednesday appointed Alan Probst as the new city manager.

The Platteville, Wis., native will assume the position May 6, replacing Dean Barber, director of public works, who filled the position in the interim.

A search committee was formed to fill the position after Bill Riebe, the last city manager, resigned in December. The committee chose four finalists from the 48 applicants who applied. After considering the finalist for the past two weeks, the committee selected Probst.

“I’d like to keep in close touch with the students,” said, Probst, who served as city manager for Platteville, where one of the University of Wisconsin’s campuses is located. “It’s a good school, similar to Eastern,” he said of UW-Platteville.

Probst said he intends on getting to know university administrators and working with them on a variety of issues. Part of his role as city manager will be to coordinate different departments in the city and prepare the budget.

One of Probst’s goals is to find money for the city from other sources, such as grants, rather than using taxes. Another goal of his is to make less of a barrier between the city and the university. Although, he said, breaking down that barrier won’t happen completely.

“I can’t give you a magic wand about how we’ll have to break down walls,” Probst added.

Besides those goals, he also wants to create more business and economic opportunities in Charleston. He said the city has certain advantages for business opportunities, such as Interstate 57, Eastern Illinois University and Midwestern work values.

Probst quit as Platteville’s city manager in October of 1999. He has turned down three offers for city manager positions in other cities. Probst said he chose Charleston because of its size, location and the fact that it’s a university town. In addition, Charleston is just five hours from Platteville, where two of Probst’s five children attend college.

“Everything fell into place with Charleston,” he said. “You will see me around here all over. I like the environment.”

Probst’s previous experiences include five years in the Marine Corps, nine years in the Army, two years as a volunteer firefighter in Platteville while he was city manager and a position with with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

“Charleston was a good fit, so this time I said yes,” Probst said.

Besides appointing a new city manager, the council also approved the motor fuel tax funds for the calendar year 2002 street maintenance program to be placed on file for public inspection.

They city is required to tell the state how they will spend the money they will receive from the MFT funds. The city plans to use the money to do street work, such as replacing roads; installing new sidewalks and making repairs, working on city parks and buildings and working on police and fire protection.

In other business, the council placed the city budget for the fiscal year beginning May 1, and ending April 30, 2003 on file for public inspection.