Kennewick announces finalists for next city manager. One candidate is a familiar face
Kennewick could soon have a new city manager. The city has announced the four finalists they will interview to replace now-retired City Manager Marie Mosley, and one of them is her former deputy.
The council will interview the candidates Friday in a closed door, executive session and make a decision at a later date.
The finalists all have administrative experience from across Washington and the Pacific Northwest, according to a news release from the city.
A job description from the city’s governmentjobs.com profile listed a salary range of $180,000 to $234,000 for the city manager last year as the city began the search process. It’s unclear if this range is what they will use. The city’s most recent salary scheduled had about $200,000 allocated for the salary.
The city did not do a formal search in 2011 when Mosley got the job, so this time around council members said they felt it was appropriate to hire a firm and go through the process.
They paid about $24,000 for GMP Consultants to conduct the search. The company also recently helped Pasco find its new city manager.
Here are the finalists for Kennewick’s next city manager:
Dan Legard
Dan Legard is the former deputy city manager and finance director for the city of Kennewick. He left last fall after more than 20 years with the city. Legard worked closely with Mosley, who was first his predecessor as finance director. When Mosley announced her retirement last summer, she recommended Legard as her pick for the person to take her place.
Legard left the city on Dec. 1 to take a job with Chelan Public Utility District as their chief financial and risk officer.
He is a former president of Washington Finance Officers Association and current member of the Washington State Treasurer’s Local Government Investment Pool Advisory Committee. Legard holds a bachelor’s in accounting from Western Washington University.
Erin Erdman
Erin Erdman is currently the city manager for the city of Battle Ground in the Vancouver metro area.
She has more 22 years of public service experience. In that time, she worked her way up as city planner for Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Council of Government, permit center manager for the city of Vancouver and Community Development Director for the city of Battle Ground before moving into her current role as city manager.
Edrman holds a bachelor’s in geography, specializing in urban planning, from Central Washington University.
Brian Davis
Brian Davis is the city administrator for the city of Federal Way.
Davis began his public service career as a National Environmental Protection Act Planner with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Oregon in 2001. After that he worked his way to Director of Community Development with the city of Roseburg, Ore.
Since 2016, he has been with the city of Federal Way, spending six years as community development director before moving to his current role as city administrator.
He is a board member for South King Housing and Homelessness. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Oregon State University.
Jennifer Stapleton
Jennifer Stapleton is currently the city administrator for the city of Sandpoint, Idaho.
She has more than 30 years of public service experience in Washington and Idaho, holding multiple executive positions. Those roles include director of grants management and financial assistance and interim director of Community Housing and Human Services for the city of Spokane.
She has been in her current role of city administrator for seven years and is a former president of the Idaho City Management Association.
Stapleton holds an master’s in public administration from Eastern Washington University.
Making a decision
The city council will make a decision on which candidate they want to hire at a future meeting. Their next regularly scheduled meeting after the interviews is on Tuesday, March 12. They can also call another special meeting.
City Attorney Lisa Beaton is currently serving as interim city manager. She was promoted to deputy city manager after Legard left.
Kennewick has a council-manager government, with the council hiring the city manager to serve as the city’s executive.
As the leader of the largest city in the Tri-Cities metro area, at a current estimated population of more than 86,000, the next city manager will be stepping into big shoes.
The city of Kennewick’s 2023-24 biennial budget is $425 million and has more than 420 employees. The city is in the process of ramping up new capital and strategic plans that will guide Kennewick’s path through the end of the decade.
