Kodiak council to discuss next steps in city manager hire with 27 applications in hand

Kodiak City Council members will discuss Thursday how to hire a permanent city manager, now that the city has 27 applications and voters have loosened the rule on where the manager must live.

The council held off on reviewing applications until after the Oct. 6 election, in part because of the residency question on the ballot, City Clerk Brandy Warnecke wrote in her agenda report. She's asking the council for direction on the recruitment process and a timeline for filling the job. It's a work session, so the council won't take formal action.

The city charter required the manager to live inside city limits. Voters approved an amendment, 344 to 178, letting the manager live in the city or within five road miles of it, according to the canvass in the council's Oct. 22 packet. The resolution that put the question on the ballot cited a workforce and housing crisis. It also noted the city has widened the area where its firefighters must live several times, from the fire district in 1971 to within 12 road miles of the fire station since 2018.

A scoring sheet attached to Thursday's report, dated May, rates applicants on degrees, five to seven years of municipal government experience, Alaska or Kodiak municipal experience, and financial, leadership, personnel and project management experience.

Tim Putney is serving as interim city manager. Last week, council members split over meeting privately with the city attorney about the hiring process, after two residents urged them to keep that discussion public. The city's recording ended before the vote result.