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Replacement Sought for Official Who Left Abruptly

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City Hall will be run by a team of departments heads until a new chief administrator is hired after the resignation last week of the interim city manager, who it was revealed had been convicted of federal mail fraud.

The City Council decided this week not to replace interim manager William Kraus and agreed to speed up efforts to recruit a new top administrator, who will be given the title of chief executive officer. The recruitment is expected to take two to three months.

Kraus resigned last Thursday after four days on the job. His departure came three hours after The Times called his office to ask about his conviction. He could not be reached for comment.

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In 1987, Kraus pleaded guilty to a federal charge of mail fraud for his role in a fraud ring selling artificially inflated real estate in Utah and California. He was sentenced to five years’ probation and paid a $1,000 fine and $20,000 in restitution.

City officials conceded they did no background check on Kraus. The council is expected May 6 to approve a law to make such checks mandatory for all interim and contract employees.

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