Interim city manager candidates identified

PORT ANGELES — The four men who will be interviewed for the job of Port Angeles interim city manager include a Port Angeles resident and three from outside of the North Olympic Peninsula.

The interviews on Thursday are expected to last about an hour each from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the City Council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.

The candidates are:

  • Dick Foster of Port Angeles, a former member of the Port of Port Angeles board of commissioners.

  • Craig Knutson of Snohomish, former Port Angeles city attorney.

  • Two former city managers — Doug Robinson of Kelso and Jerry Osterman of Marysville.

    The interim city manager will manage the city’s staff, overseeing a $17 million budget (plus work on the budget for 2009), the police and fire chiefs and 228 other full-time employees, 30 part-time employees and relations with the City Council.

    The council — which every two years selects one of its members to be its presiding officer as mayor — oversees the city manager.

    The temporary is expected to stay from four to six months while a permanent manager is sought.

    In late July, council members said they hoped to find a qualified applicant who already lived on the Peninsula.

    No salary was set for the position, but to bring in a professional interim city manager could cost about $95 per hour — $16,000 per month, plus another $1,200 per month for living expenses, Mayor Gary Braun told the other council members.

    The temporary will succeed Mark Madsen, 51, who announced his resignation as city manager on July 9 in the wake of his allegations of a “hostile work environment” caused by a rift with several City Council members.

    This is Madsen’s last week of work at City Hall.

    His annual salary is $148,000. Though he voluntarily resigned, Madsen’s contract gives him three month’s severance — about $37,000

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