City offers city manager job to Lee Smith, enters into contract negotiations

On Friday evening, March 21, the Nome Common Council grilled the two candidates vying for the city manager’s job with more than 16 questions, spread out over two grueling hours. Then the candidates went through a nerve-wracking wait for another two hours as  council members went into executive session to deliberate who to pick. The candidates, William “Lee” Smith of Port Wentworth, Georgia, and Robert Evans, of Lamar, Wyoming chatted with city staff and reporters upstairs until Mayor John Handeland summoned them back downstairs around 10 p.m. to council chambers to thank Evans for coming and to offer the job to Lee Smith.

Handeland recapped the council’s deliberation saying that with equal ratings, the council was tasked to make the right decision for the town. “We wish we had two jobs, but we don’t,” Handeland said. In a unanimous decision by present council members Scot Henderson, Maggie Miller, Cameron Piscoya, Mark Johnson and Kohren Green, the council voted to authorize the mayor to enter into negotiations with Lee Smith on a city manager contract.

Lee Smith, hailing from Georgia, has 35 years of experience in local government in Georgia and North Carolina. During the interview with the council he stressed the importance of communication with the city team, with the community and with federal and state partners. He boasts experience with emergency management, having lived through 29  hurricanes in three states, being versed in pre- and post planning of disasters. Smith also noted that Nome is at the precipice of major growth that may come with the Port of Nome expansion and stressed that his strength lies in preparation for changes of that nature and planning for increased housing needs and economic development strategies. He described his leadership style as “management by walking around”, knowing the departments and effectively communicating.

Candidate Robert Evans was born and raised in Texas, had a military career that took him around the globe and most recently served as city administrator in Lamar, Wyo. He said he was drawn to the wilds of Nome, to the hunting and fishing opportunities and said he joined a Mountain Man group that specializes in primitive wilderness skills.

The city had been looking for a city manager since Glenn Steckman resigned last September to take a job at the East Coast. The city hired a professional recruitment firm to cast a wide net to find a new city manager. The recruiter, also present at last week’s meeting, said they looked mostly in northern states for suitable candidates. However, it turned out that two southern candidates emerged on top of the pile of 26 applications received, including two from Alaskans.

With last Friday’s decision to enter into contract negotiations with Smith, Mayor Handeland expected to have a contract before the council to ratify in a special council meeting soon, for Smith to start to work in mid-April.