Cordova interviews 4 city manager applicants

Candidate interviews and vetting under way to find suitable person to fill vacant Cordova City Manager position

The search is still on for a new city manager to lead the town of Cordova.

Cordova has been without a permanent city manager since mid-June, when then manager Randy Robertson resigned.

Interim City Manager Michael Hicks, who also is Cordova Volunteer Fire Department’s Fire Chief and a longtime Cordova resident and community leader, has handled day-to-day operations of city management since Robertson’s departure.

Behind the scenes, approximately 20 potential applicants for the vacant city manager position have been vetted by the City Manager Application Review Committee, who are charged with the task of sorting the most qualified candidates from the submissions.

The Cordova City Council is shown in session earlier this summer. Council is conducting interviews and working hard to find a candidate for the city manager’s job who is just the right fit for Cordova. Photo by Cinthia Gibbens-Stimson/The Cordova Times
The Cordova City Council is shown in session earlier this summer. Council is conducting interviews and working hard to find a candidate for the city manager’s job who is just the right fit for Cordova.
Photo by Cinthia Gibbens-Stimson/The Cordova Times

Alex Russin, Bret Bradford, Dave Reggiani, Darrel Olsen, Emma Roemhildt, former City of Cordova Mayor Jim Kacsh, Kelsey Appleton, Rich Rogers and residing Mayor Clay Koplin make up the review committee, which was created with a broad demographic in mind.

“It’s a wide range of community members,” Koplin said. “Which includes managers, people involved in fisheries, the Native Village of Eyak and Native Alaskan representation, young families, women and men, a former mayor and council, and business people. These individuals are highly engaged and committed to this process.”

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Initially, the review committee forwarded four names to Council.

“The review committee recommended them per their selection criteria,” Koplin said, “All of the candidates were considered to meet qualifications and have varying degrees of experience or connections with Alaska.”

Although the remaining candidates did not make the initial cut, Koplin said they are not yet completely excluded from the process.

“The other applicants were not considered to be as qualified, per the selection criteria,” he said.

Councilmembers then took over candidates’ interviews.

Telephone interviews with the shortlisted candidates took place at special council meetings on Aug. 16, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, at City Hall.

Council interviewed Bradley Hanson on Aug. 16; Carlo Pilgrim and Dennis Sparks on Aug. 31, and Alan Lanning on Sept. 1, according to Cordova City Clerk Susan Bourgeois.

No further information was released regarding if applicants are from Alaska or the Lower 48.

The meetings were open to the public, although there was little to no public attendance.

During the interviews, candidates were asked numerous questions about Cordova, including questioning how they would perform city management duties, why they would be well-suited for the position, how they would potentially work with and treat relationships with staff and department heads, how they would interact with Council and the Mayor, and how they intend to become a part of, and fit into, the Cordova lifestyle.

Council members met Sept. 6, to discuss the first four candidates’ interview results.

Once Council has decided on two to three people, it is possible that the final city manager job candidates may be flown to Cordova for onsite, face-to-face interviews, Koplin said.

“I felt like there were qualified candidates,” he said, “Particularly among the finalists. I do feel optimistic about the field of candidates.”

However, since the first four candidates were recommended to Council for interviews, a few more applications have come into City Hall.

“Council is waiting for recommendations of two additional applicants,” Koplin said, “From among the applications that have come in since the first group and will consider interviewing them telephonically, then offering on-site applications to none, some or to all of that group of six – the first four plus the latest two.”

Any potential Council action regarding the final candidates may or may not be discussed in executive session, Koplin said.

While the process appears slow from the outside looking in, Koplin is confident that the City Council is making progress toward making the best choice for Cordova’s new City Manager.

“I believe the timeline will move at a quick, but responsible pace depending on the availability and timing of on-site interviews,” Koplin said. “The Council drives the hiring process and they have communicated to me that they want to move quickly, but deliberately – by taking all of the appropriate steps in the hiring process.”

A regular meeting of the Cordova City Council convened Wednesday, Sept. 7, at the Cordova Center.

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Cinthia Gibbens-Stimson
Cinthia Gibbens-Stimson is a staff writer and photographer for The Cordova Times. She has been writing in one form or another for 30-plus years and has had a longstanding relationship with The Cordova Times starting in 1989. She's been an Alaskan since 1976 and first moved to Cordova in 1978. She's lived in various West Texas towns; in Denver, Colorado; in McGrath, Cordova, Galena, Kodiak, Wasilla, Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska and in Bangalore, India. She has two children and three grandchildren. She can be reached at cgibbens-stimson@thecordovatimes.com or follow her on Instagram @alaskatoindia.