The City of Bellevue would like to congratulate City Administrator Dan Berlowitz who recently celebrated his 30th anniversary of City Management in the State of Nebraska. During this time Mr. Berlowitz has served as the City Administrator for the cities of Central City, Seward and Bellevue. He was the first City Administrator in Central City and implemented many new operating systems including a budget system, a capital improvement plan, employee job descriptions and evaluations as well as a strategic planning process for the community.
In Seward, Mr. Berlowitz implemented many of the same systems and worked diligently on a major city government reorganization plan which improved efficiency and provided significant operational cost savings to the City. He also played a significant role in the economic development efforts in Seward as the coordinator of an effort for Seward to become a NDED Certified Community. Dan also was a leader in the effort to implement the Seward County Economic Development Corporation and helped guide a successful effort to obtain voter approval for a 1% sales tax and LB 840 Local Option Municipal Economic Development Plan. These efforts helped the City of Seward with economic development projects and provided funding for financial assistance for the start-up and expansion of several businesses. While in Seward, Dan was awarded the prestigious “Bob Arraj” Award by NMPP Energy for Service Innovation.
Since coming to the City of Bellevue as its City Administrator in May of 2011, Mr. Berlowitz has been very active in directing essential revisions to the personnel policy manual and employee job descriptions. Under Mr. Berlowitz’s direction, the City has also implemented media and City Officials ethics policies as well as an employee succession plan and a performance management system for employee evaluations. Mr. Berlowitz has also worked diligently with assistance from his management team to negotiate fiscally responsible contracts with employee unions, the implementation of a new five year Capital Improvement Planning and a Priority Based Biennial Budget System which was based on the City’s Comprehensive Strategic Planning process. Bellevue Mayor Rita Sanders said that, “The implementation of these programs under Dan’s leadership has helped stabilize Bellevue’s financial position and put us in a position for future growth and prosperity.”
Dan continues to work diligently with the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce and the Sarpy County EDC to further economic development in Bellevue. The Bellevue Conference and Event Center, which is slated to open this summer, the ongoing development of the former Coreslab site as well as marketing the Highway 34 Corridor through the implementation of a the voter approved LB840 program and the redevelopment of Olde Towne Bellevue are just a few of the projects Bellevue is working on under Dan’s leadership. Mr. Berlowitz also led the process for the acquisition of facilities for the new city government complex on Wall Street which is currently home to the Bellevue Police Department and the future home of Bellevue City Hall
Dan has been recognized as a Credentialed Manager since 2004 by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and has been awarded the Distinguished Administrator Award by the Nebraska City/County Management Association (NCMA).This award has only been given out nine times previously and is used to recognize an appointed city administrator who continually demonstrates excellence in leadership, administration and public service.