Palmer names new city manager

PALMER – The City of Palmer is under new management.

On Tuesday, the Palmer City Council hired Nathan Wallace to fill its vacant city manager position. The announcement was first made public on the city’s website on Wednesday.

On Wednesday afternoon, Wallace was introduced to the public at a meet-and-greet session at the Palmer Depot. There, Palmer residents as well as city officials rubbed elbows over cheese and deviled eggs while making small talk with the new manager.

Palmer mayor DeLena Johnson said she thinks the city administration is in good hands.

“We’re really excited to have Nate,” Johnson said during the event.

The city's previous manager, Joe Hannan, announced he'd be stepping down in May, after spending just a year on the job.

Wallace was one of four candidates on the council's short list announced at the end of August. However, by the time the council was ready to make its decision, only Wallace remained, as the other candidates had already taken other jobs. Johnson said that, in contrast to those candidates, Wallace wasn’t casting a wide net; instead, the former Army officer had his sights set only on the Palmer job.

“It seems to be a really good fit,” she said.

Wallace most recently worked as the utility and facility manager at the Kellogg’s Pringles plant in Jackson, Tennessee. He previously lived in Alaska while serving as an officer in the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division on Joint-Base Elmendorf Richardson. Although he has no experience in municipal government, he said he told the council he’s got a wealth of knowledge about how to bring people together.

“I think a lot of my skills in the past do apply,” he said, noting that he considers himself a strong leader who has managed both budgets and large capital projects.

Deputy mayor Steve Canington said the council wasn’t worried about the fact that Wallace was the only remaining candidate by the time Tuesday’s meeting came around.

“We could have opened it back up,” he said.

Instead, the council voted unanimously to offer Wallace the job.

“He’s got great credentials,” Canington said.

In addition to being a good candidate on paper, Wallace also brings prior knowledge of the area. While working on JBER, he and his family lived in Palmer for almost a decade, and his two (now grown) children attended Colony High. He and his wife, Anathea had always planned to return to the Mat-Su, so the chance to become city manager was one he couldn’t pass up.

“This was an opportunity to come back even sooner than we had planned,” he said.

Wallace will replace public works director Tom Healy, who had been serving as the acting manager.

Both Johnson and Canington said they think Wallace’s close ties to the area mean he should be able to hit the ground running.

“It just seems to be a really good fit,” Johnson said.