Published: January 19, 2008 12:31 am      

City manager hopefuls await final decision

‘Three very, very qualified candidates’

FAIRMONT — From taking a tour of the city to undergoing interviews with city departments heads, the public and all nine council members, the three candidates competing to become Fairmont’s next city manager had a busy day Friday.

And now, the only thing left is the final decision, which council plans to make in an executive session at its next regular meeting on Tuesday.

“We’re very fortunate,” Mayor Scott Sears said following the events of the day. “We have three very, very qualified candidates.”

These applicants were carefully chosen last week by a 12-member search committee appointed in December to sift through the applications, and they are James W. Snider from Kewanee, Ill., Blaine Oborn from Ronceverte, and Richard Douglas from Raeford, N.C.

Currently, Snider and Douglas are employed as city managers in their respective cities, and Oborn is Ronceverte’s city administrator.

While only Oborn is a West Virginia resident, both Snider and Douglas explained during the public interview session Friday evening that they have ties to the state — and more specifically the Marion County region — as well.

A Bridgeport native, Douglas said one reason he is interested in this job is because it is a chance for him to “come home.”

“There are not many opportunities to come home; there are not many opportunities to come back,” he said. “This is certainly a great opportunity for good professional advancement and an opportunity to work in a larger community than where I’m from.”

In Raeford, a city with a population of 3,386, Douglas listed some of his most important accomplishments since taking the job three and a half years ago. He said he worked on a downtown streetscape project, helped bring the wastewater treatment plant back into compliance, and worked extensively on an annexation project that brought a significant area of land into the city.

He said he also accomplished relevant things in his previous jobs in other cities, and he plans to look at the details of the city’s comprehensive plan if he is chosen.

Douglas said he believes his biggest strengths are his background in education and planning and his solid, unique management approach.

“I consider myself a bull dog in pushing forward ideas,” he said. “I don’t always go for status quo. I think we need to look outside the box and think creatively.”

For Oborn, the facts that he is a West Virginia resident and has experience working in the state and with state organizations like the Public Service Commission are key reasons he believes he’s the best person for this job.

“I have West Virginia experience,” Oborn said when explaining his strengths. “I think that will really help me in the transition to a larger city.”

In Ronceverte, a city in the state’s southern Greenbrier County with a population of just 1,557, Oborn said he played an integral part in several positive accomplishments in the last three years in the position.

He said he helped define the water and general funds and revitalize the downtown area with a streetscape project and the addition of four new businesses. He also said he gained significant experience working with the city’s small police force, which he believes he can integrate on a larger scale in Fairmont.

Oborn said if he is hired, he plans to be a hands-on city manager and will immediately begin working on projects and developing relationships with the community, the council, and the city staff members.

“The first thing I (would) do is roll up my sleeves and work on projects and really get to know the community and the people as soon as possible,” he said.

Snider, whose wife currently works in Clarksburg with the department of justice, has spent the last 11 years working in city administration.

He listed that as a strong point in qualifying him for this position, and he said he has developed significant experience in community development and economic development over the years.

For the last year, Snider has been the city manager of Kewanee, an Illinois city with a population of almost 13,000, which is the most comparable to Marion County of the three.

If he is chosen, Snider said his first order of business would be developing a good working relationship with the council members and getting their input about the most prominent projects to tackle within the city.

“My first priority would be establishing a relationship with council,” he said. “I’m not going to run in and change anything. There is not one great brainstorming idea I have, although I do have ideas. I feel it’s very important to establish that relationship early.”

Snider said he believes one of his biggest strengths is his diverse background, and he sees prioritizing projects as one of the most important things in this job.

When asked in the public forum whether they have plans to stay within the Fairmont area for a long time, all of the applicants said they do, citing various different reasons.

Sears said that the city is essentially looking for someone who plans to stay in the position for about five to seven years, much like the term of an elected office.

Overall, he said the process went well. and he expects that council members now have all of the information required to pick the best candidate at their next meeting.

“Tuesday at our regular meeting we will have an executive session and decide exactly who we’re going to (pick),” Sears said.

He said the council will then notify the chosen applicant, ask if he is interested, and if he is, offer him the job. According to the legal advertisement posted for the job, the salary amount is negotiable to $65,000.

E-mail Mallory Panuska at mpanuska@timeswv.com.