The City of Ketchikan has hired its new manager after over a year of searching. The Ketchikan City Council approved the city manager contract for Abner Hoage at its Thursday night meeting.
Hoage’s contract was approved in a 4-3 vote, with council members Riley Gass, Abby Bradberry and Jai Mahtani voting no. Hoage will oversee municipal government operations and Ketchikan Public Utilities, which includes city-owned water and power.
Hoage has most recently served as interim city manager of Unalaska, where he previously served as fire chief. He was offered a permanent position as city manager in Unalaska but turned it down earlier this month.
He also served as Ketchikan’s fire chief and emergency manager from 2014 to 2021. He has a Master’s degree in management and public administration from the University of Phoenix.
The city has struggled to fill the manager position since 2024. In December, the council narrowed down a list of over 40 applicants and flew two finalists out for in-person tours and interviews. The candidate they selected withdrew his application hours before the council was scheduled to approve his contract. In January, the council voted to start that process over again. After narrowing the hiring pool down to four finalists in April, one of them being Hoage who interviewed remotely, the council selected another candidate, Glen Adams.
The council was not able to reach an agreement with Adams. The city then revisited previous applicants and selected Hoage late last month.
Hoage’s contract begins July 9 with an annual salary of $235,000.
