One of seven people being considered as Jefferson County’s next administrator has withdrawn from consideration after being offered another job.
Dave O’Leary, city manager in Lake Stevens in Snohomish County until the position was eliminated by that city’s mayor earlier this year, notified county officials Monday that he was no longer interested.
Meanwhile, Jefferson County commissioners and retiring Administrator David Goldsmith conducted interviews with three of the six remaining candidates for the job that has a top salary of about $82,000 annually.
Interviewed by phone Monday were Lars E. Gare and David L. Pence, city managers in Cle Elum in Central Washington and Kemmerer, Wyo., respectively.
Allen Sartin, assistant to Goldsmith and director of central services, was interviewed in person by the commissioners.
Two of the three candidates scheduled to be phone-interviewed today are under investigation, and one has been fired from his position.
Richard Bombardier, was fired as city manager of Ridgefield in Southern Washington earlier this month and will receive an $85,000 reverence package.
City officials say Bombardier is the subject of criminal and civil investigations.
Bombardier, in a telephone interview with Peninsula Daily News last week, denied that the investigations were being done. He refused to talk about an allegation that part of the reason for his firing was over retaliation against a whistleblower.
Colorado candidate
The second candidate whose actions are being investigated is John L. Fischbach, city manager of Fort Collins, Colo.
The City Council there asked for an independent investigation at the request of union officials after Fischbach and a man collecting signatures for a petition to unionize the Police Department got into an argument. Police were called to the scene but no charges were filed against Fischbach or the other man.
Fischbach was fined $500 and ordered to attend anger management classes in the mid-1990s when he was city manager in Vancouver, Wash.
He allegedly used his car to chase teens who had been harassing his wife in a mall parking lot. One of the boys fell from his bicycle and Fischbach yelled at him, according to reports about the incident.
Fischbach told the PDN last week that he doesn’t believe he has an anger management problem.
Third interview today
The third interview scheduled by commissioners today is with Nancy McDaniel, a Chimacum native who returned to Jefferson County following her military career.
McDaniel will be interviewed at 9 a.m., with Fischbach scheduled at 9:45 a.m. and Bombardier at 10:30 a.m.
All interviews are open to the public and are being conducted in the commissioners’ meeting room at the county courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend.
