Borough manager search narrows

PALMER — In its months-long quest to find a new Mat-Su Borough manager, the assembly has, for a second time, announced a list of finalists.

This time there are seven names on the list:

• Leroy Blodgett, of Brookings, Ore., who is currently a real estate developer working on residential developments, golf resorts and other projects in Oregon and California. Prior to that he was city manager of Brookings, a position he’s held in two other Oregon cities. He has also worked for ATCO structures, which builds temporary housing camps, sometimes in Alaska.

• Charles H. Cleaver, who is administration director and deputy controller for Saginaw County, Mich. Prior to that he was human resources director of St. Joseph County, Mich., and filled in as county administrator when the administrator was absent. He also once owned a photography studio and camera store.

• Alan J. Cohen is a consultant who provides executive-level management services. He is a former mayor of Ithaca, N.Y., where, unlike Mat-Su, the mayor runs day-to-day operations. He’s been a volunteer firefighter and also once owned and ran Simeon’s On the Commons restaurant in Ithaca.

• F. Mark Combs, of Asheville, N.C., is public services director for the town of Black Mountain, N.C. He has been the operations manager for a private recycling company and public works director for Asheville. He’s an Army veteran who worked in “a nuclear and combat-ready tactical artillery unit,” according to his resume.

• John W. Cramer III has a Palmer address and works in Anchorage and Juneau as deputy commissioner for the state Department of Administration, which has 1,600 employees and oversees a constellation of state agencies including the DMV and the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Until December 2010, he was chief of staff for the lieutenant governor. That spot on his resume lists securing funding for the Point MacKenzie rail extension as an accomplishment. He’s been director of the Division of Agriculture and deputy administrator for the city of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002.

• J. David Fraser, of Dayton, Nev., is the executive director of the Nevada League of Cities and Municipalities. Fraser has been the city administrator for Beloit, Kan., city manager for Buchanan, Mich., and town administrator for Milliken, Colo.

• John M. Moosey hails from North Branch, Minn., where he is county administrator of Chisago County. Before that he was North Branch’s city administrator. He’s also been village administrator in Brewster, Ohio, city administrator of Defiance, Ohio, village administrator of Middlefield, Ohio, and borough manager of Clarion, Penn.

With that list of seven names, the hunt for a new manager is in a place strikingly similar to where it was in October, when the assembly narrowed a list of 75 initial applicants to seven.

When that list was down to three, the borough, according to a Washington newspaper, offered the job to Ferndale, Wash., city administrator Greg Young, but Ferndale offered him a pay hike to stay. The assembly then decided to bring on an executive search firm, Colin Baenziger and Associates.

The assembly will interview the seven candidates via videoconferencing Feb. 18 and hopefully narrowing the list to three, all of whom will be interviewed in person at the end of the month.

The borough has been without a chief executive since John Duffy departed. Duffy announced his resignation in April 2010, but stayed on the job until late June.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.