The Cordova City Council will hold a special meeting at 10 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 17, to interview three city manager candidate finalists.
The candidates — Alan Sorum, from Valdez; Bradley Hanson, from Onawa, IA; and Alan Lanning, from Steamboat Springs, CO., will be in Cordova this weekend, to be interviewed, and tour the community, to see if Cordova is a good fit for them, as well.
The meeting is open to the public. Residents are encouraged to attend the interviews, as the candidate selected will become the city manager and oversee day-to-day management of city operations.
Alan Sorum
Alan Sorum is the project manager and maritime operations manager for the Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council in Prince William Sound, and is the founder and owner of the consulting firm Pacific Harbor Advisors.
Sorum and his wife, Ruth Knight, have lived and worked on Alaska’s waterfront for 20 years.
Before moving to Valdez in 1999, Sorum and his family lived on Wrangell Island in Southeast Alaska for many years.
Sorum is a former manager for the Municipality of Skagway, and former port director and harbormaster for the city of Valdez.
His past projects included development of a port development concept for the Municipality of Skagway and a port operations plan for the Native Village of Eyak.
In the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Sorum serves as Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Examiner. He is an Alaska Marine Safety Education Association Advance Marine Safety Instructor and holds a boating safety instructor certificate from the State of Alaska.
Sorum is a past president of the Alaska Association of Harbormasters and Port Administrators, a member of the Valdez City School Board and board member of the Valdez Fisheries Development Association.
He holds a bachelor of Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Alaska Southeast and a master’s in rural development from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Bradley Hanson
Bradley Hanson, from Onawa, Iowa, is a former city administrator for the City of Onawa (June 2013 – March 2016), and per his resume uploaded on LinkedIn.com is on the board of directors of the Iowa Floodplain and Stormwaters Managers’ Association.
Hanson graduated with a Master in Public Administration from the University of Colorado- Denver in 2012.
Hanson is a former city administrator for the City of Bridgeport, Nebraska for over a year and a half (October 2011 – May 2013). Prior to that position he served as an administrative intern for the town of Limon, Colorado (January 2010 – September 2011).
Alan Lanning
Alan Lanning served city manager of Lake City, Minn. from July 1, 2014 to July 17, 2015.
According to an article in the Brainerd Dispatch in Brainerd, Minn., Lanning has served in multiple posts since 2004: Brookings, S.D., City Manager from 2004-06; Steamboat Springs, Colo., City Manager from 2006-08; Castle Pines North, Colo., City Manager from 2008-10; and Central City, Colo., City Administrator from 2010-14.
Lanning has a background in management and administrative work, and as a planning director.
Lanning earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D. He holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, S.D.
Reception Friday,
interviews on Saturday
Community members are invited and encouraged to attend a meet and greet event for the on Friday, Sept. 16, 6-8 p.m., in the Cordova Center Atrium.
Quorums of the city council, school board and/or other city boards and commissions may be present, however, no decisions regarding city business will be made, city officials said.
The candidate interviews will be held at the Cordova Center in Community Rooms A & B in the Council’s chambers.
“There may be an executive session too on the agenda, but the actual interviews will be in open session,” said Cordova City Clerk Susan Bourgeois.
The meet and greet Friday night and the candidate interviews on Saturday are open to the community and the public is invited and encouraged to attend.
Previous public attendance during the city manager telephone interviews in August and earlier in September had dismal turnout.
For more information, contact Bourgeois at 424-6248 or email her at cityclerk@cityofcordova.net.
