Sitka's sole finalist for city administrator is gone, and the Assembly is starting over

Sitka could have a new municipal administrator by the end of the week, but not either of the people the city introduced last month. The Assembly interviews two new candidates Friday and could pick one the same night, weeks after presenting a different person to the public as its only finalist.

That earlier finalist, Jenny Alber, was brought to Sitka in July as the sole candidate after the mayor said a continued search had turned up no one else. She met residents at two community receptions in late July. Now she is not among the candidates, and Friday's agenda does not say what became of that search or why the city is again looking at new names.

The two people up Friday, Jeremy Marshall and Gerri Cotter, would step into a job that runs the city's day-to-day operations and its departments. The Assembly could interview them, then discuss and decide the same evening.