Sitka Assembly votes 7-0 to negotiate a contract with administrator finalist Gerrie Cotter

Sitka's Assembly has taken its first formal step toward filling the city's top administrative post, voting 7-0 on Sept. 22 to direct the Deputy Administrator to negotiate an employment contract with finalist Gerrie Cotter.

The vote does not complete the hire. The City and Borough of Sitka's fall newsletter, released Wednesday, gave no salary, contract terms or start date, and set no date for a final contract to return to the Assembly.

Cotter's application, redacted in the Assembly's packet, lists a most recent job as administrator of an urban township of nearly 30,000 residents, with a $19 million budget and 80 employees, and 14 years at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services before that.

Cotter would succeed John Leach, whose resignation the Assembly accepted in November 2025. In January it moved his departure from May 30 to as late as Dec. 18, which the sponsors said would let him overlap with a successor, and raised his salary to $230,000.

The Assembly, which met in executive session (closed to the public) to screen applicants in June, according to its June 23 agenda, interviewed Cotter by Zoom on Aug. 21. A second applicant scheduled that night, Jeremy Marshall, had withdrawn, the agenda notes. Cotter was interviewed again Sept. 10, then met residents at receptions at Harrigan Centennial Hall in mid-September.

The Municipal Administrator serves as the city and borough's chief administrative officer, overseeing day-to-day municipal operations and working closely with the Assembly, departments, employees and the community.