City Administrator Mark Gorman will step down from the position in six to nine months, he announced during Tuesday night’s Assembly meeting.
He’s resigning for both personal and professional reasons, he said.
He commented that the average tenure for city administrators in Alaska is 2.5 years and that his three year anniversary is next month.
The former Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium vice president began his tenure in October of 2013.
“I love this community. It’s been my home for 40 years,” he said. “I see, as I move around the community that there’s a fatigue in terms of my role as administrator growing in certain members and sectors of the community. I think it’s important to recognize that and allow the community to refresh at some point in time. And that’s a hard decision because I want to serve the community to the best of my ability.”
Gorman, who has received consistently high marks from the Assembly, gave the group a six- to nine-month window in order to look for a new city administrator. He also wants to remain in the position to guide the FY18 budget process, which will be accelerated to end in March instead of May.
The legislature will still be in session, but Gorman says next year’s budget will not expect much in state contributions.
In other action, the Assembly unanimously approved an employment agreement with Brian Hanson as city attorney at a starting salary of $125,000.
Hanson’s start date is Monday, Sept. 19th.
