New city manager tackles budget

By Diana Haecker

After eight months of temporary city managers at the helm of city hall, the City of Nome hired last month William “Lee” Smith III, 61, on a five-year contract to head the city’s administration.
Now, don’t call him William. That privilege is solely reserved for his mother, he chuckles. It’s Lee.
With proper name etiquette established, Mr. Smith sat down for an interview with the Nugget for introductory purposes.
It’s May, so the Nome Common Council is in its final throes of drafting the budget for the upcoming fiscal years, starting on July 1. And as for the past few years, the council is grappling with the task to balance stagnant revenue and rising costs, hoping to avoid dipping into the savings account.
This year, the hole in the budget is $2 million. Thrown into the process nearly at the tail end, Smith in his first week on the job already ruffled feathers as he proposed a starting point in the discussion of the city’s contribution to the school district at the legal minimum of $1.5 million, effectively a $2 million cut to Nome Schools compared to last year.
With nerves already laid bare due to the uncertainty of what school districts will receive from the state of Alaska, the unexpected low starting point of the city’s contribution jolted the school board and superintendent.
But causing added anxiety, Smith said, was not intended. “Could I have walked through that process better? Yeah, but I didn’t know,” he said. “I did not do it with malice or disrespect. In larger entities, that’s just how you approached it,” he said.
Smith started to work on Nome’s budget with what he calls “zero sum budgeting.” That means that every dollar is purposefully allocated and spent so that income equals expenses. So he goes through the budget department by department, and line by line, questioning if the right amount is spent for the right purpose. The baseline school budget contribution he saw as a starting point to talk.

Background
Smith looks back at a 35-year long career of serving in local governments in his native North Carolina and in Georgia. From 2014 to 2022, he was county manager in Chatham County, Savannah, GA where he oversaw a nearly $1 billion budget and 2,250 employees. Prior to that, Smith worked for 13 years as the county manager and chief executive officer in Wayne County, North Carolina and before that he served for eight years as county manager of Washington County, along the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
He grew up in a politically active family and remembers holding signs at a young age for family members running for office. His grandfather worked for the Dept. of Transportation and instilled a sense of service in young Lee. His first job was bagging groceries at local store, run by a Mr. Elmo who paid great attention to the cleanliness of his store and excellent customer service, further embedding a sense of servitude in Smith.
Starting out his career after graduating from the University of North Carolina with degree in business administration, he landed a job as a planner, emergency manager and deputy manager – all rolled into one – at Bayboro, NC.
Thus he started a life in public service that included shepherding communities to recovery after hurricanes, establishing police departments, managing water & sewer projects, initiating strategic plans and ‘blueprints for the future’ and, yes, balancing budgets.
The last two years, Smith said, he spent in a semi-retired state, and fulfilling his goal of traveling and camping in all 50 states, and on the side doing some consulting work.
He had traveled from place to place for months, mostly camping and giving himself a hotel room every 10 days, as well as a Planet Fitness membership so he could take showers. During his time traveling, he came up with a list of five places where he wanted to live. One of those places was Alaska.
When a recruiter called him, telling him about the Nome city manager job, he did some research and three hours later decided to toss his hat in the ring. Having been to Alaska before, Smith said, he had fallen in love with the people. As he progressed through the hiring process and was brought to Nome for the final interview – and in walking around and just talking with people – the people were the deciding factor, he said.
Quoting his mentor, “People don’t know what they don’t know,” he signaled eagerness to learn and finding his bearings in Nome, and its multiple layers of governments, distinct cultures, languages and influences.
He’s big on zero based budgets, strategic planning and engaging with the public in the process.
After a week of a rough patch, Smith said he embraces the experience. “It at least gave me the opportunity to see what was happening, to see the community,” he said, as the community let him know loud and clear that education was a priority.
However, Smith also said that the city needs to explain to citizens that budget woes are real.
For one, the state is no longer flush with oil money and is grappling with its own budget dilemma. On the federal side, the Trump administration is cutting the federal work force and programs. Smith said, he hasn’t in 40 years of working in local government seen this situation where state and federal cuts compound the local budget situation.

Budget realities
The city’s revenues stagnant while costs go up. The only way is to cut back expenses and find new revenue. However, Smith also warned that if cuts are done in the wrong place or too deep, “you’re not productive and you’re not serving the community as you should and as they expect.”
Savings are dwindling and as a rule of thumb, at a budget of about $18 million, the city should have a reserve of $3.5 million.
But after years of dipping into the savings to balance the budget, the city is at a point where the can cannot be kicked further down the road.
He said the city needs to hear from its constituents to prioritize budget expenses. Beyond the budget, he said, as the port expansion becomes reality and growth will occur, what does the citizenry want? “I also want to know from the community, what in the growth of the community will they accept, and what do they not want here?”
He speaks about developing a strategic plan, a blueprint to follow, based on the wishes and input by the community.
While the budget is on the front burner, Smith is confident in city staff, whom he calls “Team Nome” to assist him tackle whatever comes next.
Smith’s predecessor Glenn Steckman prioritized seeing the Nome Police Department through its accreditation process, starting in 2019. Just last week, the city announced that this milestone had been reached and that NPD is a fully accredited organization.  
Asked what he wants to have achieved in the first six months on the job, he did not define specific things, but expanded on the method of how he’d do things: open, honest and building mutual respect.He stressed the importance of community-oriented policing and building trust with the Nome Police Department. Smith discussed the need for infrastructure improvements, workforce development and impact of climate change. He plans to hold town hall meetings to address community concerns and foster trust
In his personal time, Smith said, he enjoys to cook, take walks on the beach and sometimes just stop, gaze at something and be in the moment. He says, he enjoys attending community events and 
The next Common Council meeting to discuss the budget is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20, at 5:30 p.m., Nome City Hall.