Interim city manager candidates identified
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The interviews on Thursday are expected to last about an hour each from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the City Council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
The candidates are:
The interim city manager will manage the city's staff, overseeing a $17 million budget (plus work on the budget for 2009), the police and fire chiefs and 228 other full-time employees, 30 part-time employees and relations with the City Council.
The council — which every two years selects one of its members to be its presiding officer as mayor — oversees the city manager.
The temporary is expected to stay from four to six months while a permanent manager is sought.
In late July, council members said they hoped to find a qualified applicant who already lived on the Peninsula.
No salary was set for the position, but to bring in a professional interim city manager could cost about $95 per hour — $16,000 per month, plus another $1,200 per month for living expenses, Mayor Gary Braun told the other council members.
The temporary will succeed Mark Madsen, 51, who announced his resignation as city manager on July 9 in the wake of his allegations of a "hostile work environment" caused by a rift with several City Council members.
This is Madsen's last week of work at City Hall.
His annual salary is $148,000. Though he voluntarily resigned, Madsen's contract gives him three month's severance — about $37,000
The candidates
He was defeated for re-election by Leonard Beil in a close election. Foster was then 65.
He is also a retired deputy assistant administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, city Human Resources Director Bob Coons said.
He has not been a city manager before, but he holds bachelor's and master's degrees in public administration, Coons noted.
Identified as No. 16 at a City Council meeting Aug. 19, Foster was suggested as a candidate by Braun.
"We did say we would try local," Braun said at the meeting.
Councilwoman Karen Rogers initially objected but ultimately agreed to interview Foster with the other three candidates.
As city attorney, Coons said, Knutson was interim city manager multiple times.
He has a juris doctor law degree and a bachelor's degree and is currently working at a Seattle-area law firm.
Identified as No. 6 during discussions at the city council meeting, Knutson was suggested by Rogers as a potential candidate.
Knutson retired in March 2004 after almost 21 years as Port Angeles city attorney. He was then 55.
He was succeeded by Bill Bloor, the current city attorney.
He has bachelor's and master's degrees in public administration.
He holds a bachelor's degree in public administration.
Information withheld
Coons declined to specify the cities in which Kelso and Robinson were city managers and the law firm where Knutson works, saying some of the candidates had requested that certain parts of their resumes not be made public.
However, in July, Madsen said he knew of "two or three people out there who are very much considered to be in anybody's mind across this state" as an interim manager."
Madsen said they included Robinson.
Robinson resigned, citing health reasons, as Kelso's city manager in June 2007 after 17 years.
It was a controversial end for Robinson.
The City Council hired City Attorney Paul Brachvogel to replace Robinson, "a move that was widely supported by citizens who felt their complaints about a non-responsive government had been ignored," according to the Longview Daily News.
". . . Citizens were discontented with Robinson's leadership, saying he controlled the council.
"[Two City Council candidates] both agreed Robinson had covered up problems at City Hall when the council asked him about a rash of complaints from citizens and accusations by city workers."
An Internet search turned up many articles about Osterman, including a lengthy profile done by The Seattle Times in August 2005.
He served from 1988 to 1994 as Mukilteo city administrator after 11 years as Bothell's city manager.
He spent four years as Chelan's city manager and had temporary administrator jobs in Lynden in 2001, a second and short stint back in Chelan in 2003 and was temporary manager in Mountlake Terrace in 2005.
In May he completed a five-month term as interim city administrator of Sun Valley, Idaho.
"I've been dispensable my whole life," he told the Times in the 2005 article.
The article noted:
"That lesson was delivered to Osterman rather painfully by the Mukilteo City Council, which in 1994 pressured him into quitting his six-year job as city administrator."
Pros and cons
Osterman's admirers in Mukilteo praised his strong code of ethics and his friendly, nonconfrontational manner.
His detractors saw him as weak and ineffective and blamed him for the city's budget problems.
Chelan Mayor Jay Witherbee told the Times:
"He's a great guy. Very honest, extremely principled. He's just very even-keeled. And he's sharp, and he has such vast experience. There's very few times you come across a situation he hasn't already faced."
In a second Seattle Times article in 2005, Osterman, then 60, said: "
"I haven't been looking for work since 1999. It came and found me."
Robinson and Osterman were referred to as candidates No. 11 and No. 8 respectively at the Aug. 19 City Council meeting.
They were considered top candidates by Councilman Larry Williams — who sent his preferences by e-mail to Coons before the meeting.
Rogers also said they were her top two, and the rest of the council immediately agreed that the two should be interviewed.
Their individual strengths and weaknesses were not discussed at the Aug. 19 meeting.
Meetings slated
PORT ANGELES CITY COUNCIL members will hold two special meetings this week:
The forum , which will be facilitated by the League of Women Voters, will be held in the council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St., beginning at 6 p.m.
Questions must be written.
They will be reviewed by City Attorney Bill Bloor to ensure that they do not deal with topics reserved for closed-door executive sessions.
Ray Gruver, an insurance broker and a past president of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce, delivered to City Hall on July 25 a letter signed by 60 community and business leaders.
It asked the council to hold the public forum.
Daytime meeting
Thursday's special meeting at City Hall begins at 12 noon.
Before interviews of the candidates for the interim city manager's job, the council will hear from representatives of Waldron and Co.
It is a Seattle-based executive recruitment firm which has been hired for $25,000 to begin the process to hire a new permanent city manager.
Between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., the interim city manager candidates are expected to be interviewed by the seven council members.
Thursday's special meeting could include an executive session to discuss the applicants and possibly make an offer to one of them.
Last modified: August 25. 2008 9:00PM