Ketchikan is on the hunt for a new city manager. The City Council is scheduled to meet Thursday to get the process going.
Longtime manager Karl Amylon retired at the end of last month after 26 years leading the city. That leaves the City Council with two tasks.
First, they’ll have to name someone to head up city government while a successor is chosen. A decision on that is expected Thursday, possibly following a closed-door discussion of who might be best suited for the job. The acting city manager will likely also head up city-owned Ketchikan Public Utilities.
Under city code, Assistant City Manager Lacey Simpson is filling the manager’s role for now.
The second job for the City Council is to search for a successor. The city manager is one of a handful of city officials who report directly to the council. The city’s charter and code don’t get into specifics about how a manager should be chosen — just that a manager must be selected based on their qualifications. So it’ll be up to the council to decide how to go about its search for a new city manager. That’s up for discussion Thursday.
Ketchikan’s City Council meets at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Ted Ferry Civic Center. The meeting is streamed at the city’s website and broadcast on local cable channels. Public comment will be heard at the beginning of the meeting.
