Cheney administrator Army veteran

Cheney’s new top administrator earned his governing stripes in the Army.

Robert Strope ran a city with about 5,000 families as a community commander at an Army base in Wurzburg, Germany, from 1995 to 1998.

Strope, 46, was appointed by the City Council Tuesday to lead Cheney’s day-to-day operations as the city administrator. He will earn $92,600 a year and start Feb. 26.

He said not to expect big changes in his early tenure.

“Until you know your community, it’s a mistake to try to go in there and change things,” Strope said.

After serving in the Army for 21 years, Strope served as the city manager for McCall, Idaho, for four years until 2004. Since then, he has been the city administrator for Long Beach, Wash.

He succeeds Paul Schmidt, who left in November to take a position in Oak Harbor, Wash., and John Montague, Cheney’s retired fire chief who filled the post on an interim basis.

Strope recently was considered for similar jobs in Post Falls and Woodinville, Wash.

He said he was looking to move to a larger municipality.

Strope earned a master’s degree in public administration while teaching military leadership in the Army ROTC program at the University of Idaho.

Cheney Mayor Allan Gainer said Strope was his top choice because of his strategies for maintaining high employee morale and his experience in dealing with economic development issues.

“You want to start with keeping what you have and trying to expand with your existing businesses,” Strope said.