As a St. Peters resident, here's an important thing you should know about new City Administrator Bill Malach: he is proud that our award-winning City of St. Peters is recognized as one of the best places to live in the nation, but he wants our City organization to get better and better … every single day.
“We’re a full-service community,” Malach said. “We provide residents and businesses solid waste collection, we provide water and sewer, we provide police services, we provide recreational services, we provide amenities on a day-to-day basis, and we’ll continue to do that. We are looked at as a leader within the state. We’ve been recognized as one of the best communities to live in the nation.”
Even so, there’s always room for improvement. One of Malach’s favorite quotes (from Michael Josephson) is: You don’t have to be sick to get better. He asks everyone on his St. Peters staff team to be growth-oriented. Malach’s focus is this: “Are we better today than we were yesterday? Are we going to be better tomorrow than we are today? Are we going to be better next year than we were this year? So, not necessarily goal-oriented, but growth-oriented. Not only for our organization, but for our community.”
Malach has sparked growth already by encouraging City staff to work on character-based leadership principles and to grow together. Employees meet regularly in departments around the City to read leadership materials and discuss how they can apply them to their lives at home and at work. We call this effort Lead the Way, St. Peters.
Malach, who began as City Administrator on Jan. 20, 2023, sees positive impacts already from the new leadership development efforts. Front-line employees in particular are stepping up with ways to improve efficiency in their work areas. “The outcomes they are having are outstanding,” he said. “It’s unbelievable the results we’re getting so far and we’re just getting started. That’s what excites me so much about this character-based leadership ‘Lead the Way’ program.”
Leading the way starts with leading by example. This is a concept that comes naturally for Malach. He began his career with the City in 1998 as a Public Works Engineer and has climbed inside the organization consistently for the past quarter century. He’s worked with many employees throughout the City of St. Peters organization over his career, pitching in whenever he’s needed. “I’m the type of person to get in and if something needs to get done, do it. I don’t look for someone else to do it. People call it ‘lead by example.’ I try to practice what I preach. Be a role model. It’s just the work ethic, and the way I was raised and brought up over the years. Treat people with respect. Do what’s right,” Malach said.
Malach was promoted in 2000 to Public Works Manager and in 2001 to Director of Utilities over water and wastewater services. In 2010, Malach earned the City’s highest individual honor, an Above & Beyond Award, for his work to successfully complete 14 major Capital Improvement Projects worth more than $23 million over a three-year period. He also oversaw continuous improvements to operations at Earth Centre that drew the highest national award from the Solid Waste Association of North America for composting facilities in 2010.
In May 2011, Malach was promoted to Group Manager for Water Environment Services (WES), where he was responsible for water and wastewater services, storm water infrastructure management, and organic resource recycling at Earth Centre. In 2019, solid waste collection, recycling, and fleet management operations were added to his responsibilities as Water & Environmental Services (WES) Manager. A year ago, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen chose Malach to replace retired City Administrator Russ Batzel. On Feb. 7, 2022, Malach transitioned to Assistant to the City Administrator and prepared to take over the City Administrator position.
The City of St. Peters has several "enterprise funds" that operate with revenue from the fees they collect, without taxpayer assistance. Malach managed some of those funds—water, wastewater, and solid waste collection services—and believes that experience helps prepare him as City Administrator.
“We look at ways to be efficient, to be effective, and try to provide excellent customer service at a reasonable fee,” Malach said.
Malach knows that he will need employees throughout the organization, no matter their position, to work hard to improve on our City’s accomplishments. Bill explains we have nearly 60,000 residents counting on us to do a great job and continue to improve the services we deliver for them. That means we must retain our top-quality team and recruit the best to join the City. To help with this, we have had an Employees First philosophy for decades at St. Peters. Malach wants to take this a step further. His vision is for the City of St. Peters to be known widely as THE Employer of Choice in our industry. He wants people in the community to feel “deep down in their hearts … I want to work for that organization, they’ve got it going on. They’ve got great values, they grow their people, I can get in the door, I have a career path there, I can have a diverse work environment. They’re the right size. They’re big enough that I can get some neat projects done, while improving the community, and they’re not too large with a lot of bureaucracy. And, I LOVE working for the City of St. Peters and I want to spend a career there. That’s my vision for this organization.”