$24K for borough manager search

PALMER — Mat-Su Borough has hired a Florida firm for $24,000 to help it find a new borough manager after its top manager candidate decided to keep his current job.

The borough assembly went into executive session Monday night to discuss the search process after choosing Colin Baenziger & Associates, of Wellington, Fla., to conduct the search.

Acting Borough Manager Elizabeth Gray confirmed Monday the decision to spend $24,000 on professional services to handle the borough’s second attempt at recruiting a qualified manager after candidate Greg Young informed them he was keeping his job as city administrator of Ferndale, Wash.

Young reportedly was persuaded to stay put in Ferndale after being offered an additional $18,000 in pay, bumping him up to $128,000 for 2011. According to newspaper accounts in his hometown, Mat-Su had offered him about $200,000 for the manager position.

Young was among three dandidates on the borough’s short list who had made it through various public interviews over the last few months from an original field of 60 candidates from across the country.

The other two top candidates were Wasilla’s Desmond Mayo, finance director for Crowley Petroleum Distribution, and Don Baird, town manager of Granby, Colo.

It is not known why neither Mayo nor Baird were offered the position when Young dropped out.

Borough Attorney Nick Spiropoulos said earlier this month that the borough hoped to find about 10 more applicants.

The search for a manager began last April when John Duffy resigned after 10 years at the helm. Gray said Monday the borough hopes to have a new manager chosen by the end of February or by early March.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.