PORT ANGELES — City Manager Kent Myers was back at his City Hall desk Monday afternoon.
Another candidate — an assistant from Des Moines, Iowa — was announced as the new city manager in Columbia, Mo., where Myers had been one of four finalists to spend the preceding three days through a grueling interview process.
“I was not offered the job,” Myers said from his Port Angeles office Monday afternoon, fewer than two hours before the official announcement in Columbia about who was.
“From my end, we’re going to regroup and see what the future holds for us,” said Port Angeles’ top city administrator for the past 2½ years.
Myers said he will meet with the City Council to discuss his future, then make a public statement in “probably a week or so.”
The Texas native has expressed a desire to live closer to family members in Texas and Arkansas.
The Port Angeles City Council held a closed-door executive session last week, presumably to discuss strategy in case Myers left the position that pays $157,590 annually.
The new city manager in Columbia will receive $150,000, according to news media reports there.
Myers said Monday he had no other job applications pending with other cities.
He applied for the city manager job in Corpus Christi, Texas, last December and was listed among 53 candidates.
During a speech to discuss city issues before the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 31, he said he was no longer in consideration in Corpus Christi and that he had no other job applications pending. But his name was announced as one of four finalists for the opening in Columbia, Mo., by Mayor Bob McDavid on March 11.
He traveled to Columbia late last week for a series of public and private meetings with city officials and the general public.
The city of 108,500 is home to the University of Missouri.
“It was a very exhaustive process,” Myers said Monday, “and they hired someone they felt was a better fit for the community.”
That was Mike Matthes, assistant city manager and chief information officer of Des Moines, Iowa.
Contacted Monday afternoon, Port Angeles Mayor Dan Di Guilio said he had already learned that Myers wasn’t offered the Missouri job but hadn’t spoken with him directly.
“I’m glad we still have a city manager and don’t have to go through the hiring process,” Di Guilio said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
