SOUTH PORTLAND — The City Council announced Friday that it has chosen two finalists with significant out-of-state experience in its search for a new city manager.
The finalists are James “Ty” Ross of Dalton, Georgia, who recently resigned from the city administrator’s position there, and Edward Collins of South Portland, a former city manager in Lehi, Utah, and a former town manager in Baileyville and Lubec.
Both candidates will be in South Portland on Nov. 2 and 3 to participate in the second phase of the interview process.
The public is invited to meet the candidates and their spouses during an informal gathering from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at the South Portland Community Center.
On Nov. 3, each candidate will meet with municipal department heads and the school superintendent during the day and have a second interview with the council that evening.
The council anticipates announcing the new city manager and his starting date the next week.
Twenty-three people applied for the position, which was vacated in July when Jim Gailey resigned after working for the city for nearly 30 years. Gailey was paid $121,000 per year, plus a monthly vehicle allowance. Interim City Manager Don Gerrish and Eaton Peabody Consulting Group are assisting with the search.
Ross resigned suddenly on Sept. 14 from the city administrator’s post in Georgia, according to The Daily Citizen of Dalton. Dalton Mayor Dennis Mock declined to give a reason for the resignation and said the City Council there would begin a search for a successor as quickly as possible.
The newspaper said Ross became Dalton’s city administrator in October 2009 after a 13-month search. A native of that area, he received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Georgia in 1997, a law degree from Georgia State University College of Law in 2002 and a master’s degree in business administration from Kennesaw State University in 2008.
After college, Ross returned to Dalton, where he practiced business law for six years with Mitchell & Mitchell and Minor, Bell & Neal. Later, he served as assistant dean of Dalton State College’s business school, the newspaper said.
Collins was city administrator in Lehi, Utah, from 1996 to 2005. Before that, he was town manager in Lubec from 1987 to 1988; community development director in Calais from 1988 to 1990; executive director of a regional job opportunity program in Washington County; town manager in Baileyville from 1992 to 1994; and business services manager for a redevelopment agency in West Valley City, Utah, from 1994 to 1996, according to his resume on linkedin.com.
More recently, Collins was general manager of a civil engineering services company in Lehi for several years. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from the University of Maine in 1987 and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Utah in 1998.
Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:
Twitter: KelleyBouchard
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