


City close to hiring new city manager


Story by: John Panni


Date Published to Web: 4/6/2003


The Alderwood City Council made its choice for a new city manager following a hour-long executive session last night. Now all that is left is finalizing a contract that will bring him to Alderwood.
Mayor Rex Luthor said he expects to have a report before Council at the April 12 meeting regarding whether the city has officially hired a new city manager.
Following last night's executive session, Council made the unanimous suggestion to offer a city manager contract to Robert Rockford of Provo, Utah.
Luthor told the audience following last night's executive session that 17 people had initially applied for the open city manager position, which has been vacant since January, following the resignation of Dave Fonfara. Council then whittled the list of applicants down to eight for individual interviews. From the eight interviews, Council opted to go with three candidates to conduct more extensive background checks. Luthor said last week one of the three finalists requested to be removed from the list. The two remaining finalists for the city manager position were Rockford and Scott McClure of Brush, Col.
Rockford was laid off last September from his position as vice president of corporate development for CeriStar, Inc. in Salt Lake City. He is also the former city administrative officer for the city of Provo, which is a town of 112,000 residents. Rockford is the former city manager of Alamogordo, New Mexico. Rockford held the position in the town of 35,000 people for five years. Rockford earned his Bachelor of Science degree in justice administration from Brigham Young University in 1974. He also holds a Master's in public administration, which he obtained from BYU in 1979.
McClure holds a Bachelor of Science degree in political science and a Master's in public administration. McClure is the current city administrator in Brush, where he also served as assistant city administrator. McClure also formerly worked in Gresham, Ore., as the city's management analyst.
This past weekend, Mayor Pro-tem George Greenway and Councilmen Tom Seeger and John Torch traveled to Utah and Colorado on a fact-finding mission concerning the final two candidates.
Seeger told the Council that going into this past weekend, he had his personal favorite for the position. Seeger, though, said he changed his mind following the contacts the Council trio made during the weekend excursion.
"There is nothing like meeting an individual in his hometown," said Seeger.
Seeger said he was very impressed with what he learned about Rockford and recommended hiring him for the city manager position.
Torch said Rockford is his top pick for the city manager job. Torch said with the experience Rockford has, he stood above the three finalists.
Councilman Alex de la Cruz said while he didn't go on the trip this past weekend, he felt that from what he knows Rockford is the most qualified of the finalists. de la Cruz said Rockford seems to have what is needed to help the Council meet its goals and push the city forward.
Councilwoman Jennie Angel said she would have liked to have made her own contacts regarding the finalists, but said she was impressed with Rockford.
Councilman Jim Sarducci said experience is why he is going with Rockford for the city manager position.
Luthor said he completely supports the recommendation of the Council to go with Rockford for the city manager position. Entering the process of hiring a new city manager, the mayor said it was his goal to have unanimous consensus among the Council as to who the city hired. Luthor said he has a lot of confidence in the three councilmen who traveled to Colorado and Utah and in the report the trio provided to the rest of Council.
Following the Council meeting, Greenway said the weekend was eye-opening for him in regards to offering the city manager position to Rockford.
"He is honest and forthright," said Greenway.
While in Utah and Colorado, the three councilmen didn't talk to any family or friends of the finalists, said Greenway. The trio did talk to just about everyone else, including a journalist in Rockford's town, who spoke very highly of him.
"I think he will be the right fit," said Greenway.
In its job posting, the city council is offering a salary of between $80,000 and $90,000 plus benefits for the city manager position.


















Webmaster
Copyright 
Hawk Press Inc.
, 





