Acting city manager Penatzer aims for 'continuity' as Johnstown again seeks full-time hire

Apr. 19—When Kristen Denne resigned as Johnstown's longest-serving city manager in June 2014, her departure began a period of instability in the position.

Eight people have managed the city during the past 82 months — Carlos Gunby, Melissa Komar, Arch Liston, Curt Davis, George Hayfield, Robert Ritter, John Trant Jr. and now Daniel Penatzer.

For almost half of that time, an acting or interim city manager, not a permanent one, has been in charge.

By comparison, Denne was the eighth city manager, either acting or full-time, during the two decades between the position's creation on Jan. 1, 1994, and her departure.

Penatzer, who was hired as acting city manager by Johnstown City Council on March 31, said bringing stability to the position is his main priority.

He is under contract until the next reorganization meeting in January. During his nine months on the job, Penatzer wants to help the city find a new full-time manager and hire an assistant city manager.

The full-time city manager position is expected to be advertised within a few months.

"My focus is going to be on introducing some continuity to the manager's position," Penatzer said in a recent interview, standing near the statue of city founder Joseph Johns in Central Park downtown. "It sounds ridiculous hearing that from somebody that says he's only going to be here for nine months, but I really hope that I am the last in a long line of temporary, interim, acting managers. They've got to have a good city manager and a good assistant manager."

He added: "If we don't have this position filled and some consistency to it by the end of the year, I'll be very disappointed. I won't have succeeded. I'll be very disappointed."

The instability has affected many aspects of the community. Business leaders and city employees repeatedly need to meet and learn about new managers, who then are out of the position a year or so later.

"Certainly, there's always a learning curve with the business community getting to know the manager and getting comfortable about sharing their concerns or ideas or that kind of thing," said Amy Bradley, Cambria Regional Chamber's president and CEO. "But I also see the flip side. We're fortunate to have people like Dan come into the role. It's always good to get outside perspective and somebody new looking at things.

"Forever being the glass-half-full-type person, I think that's kind of the benefit of it. Obviously, they have to learn and get up to speed, but they bring new ideas and fresh eyes to the process."

Eric Miller, president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 463 Johnstown Professional Firefighters, said: "I think it's really hard with the unions, and even department heads and stuff, because once you start getting that working relationship and you start building that trust with those positions when somebody new comes in — you're introducing yourself, they're getting to know you, you're getting to know them — and then in a year, they're gone."

'Residency is a dinosaur'

Trant served as acting city manager from Dec. 2, 2019, to March 31.

A search for a full-time city manager to replace him fizzled out when no deal could be reached with three finalists, even though the city received Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development grant funds to increase the position's pay from about $80,000 to approximately $120,000. The law that requires a city manager to live in Johnstown was once again a stumbling block.

"Residency is a dinosaur," said Penatzer, a Summerhill resident who recently retired after 24 years as Ebensburg Borough's manager. "Residency requirements are really a thing of the past. That can only be changed through a referendum. We need to convince the people in Johnstown that the residency isn't so important.

"If they look at the city manager's job here as driving the car, they need to worry more about that person's driving skills than they need to worry about the address on his license. They should be finding the best person for the job."

Penatzer pointed to two other reasons that he thinks the city has not been able to stabilize its manager position.

One is the lack of candidates.

"There just aren't very many kids out there wanting to grow up to be city managers," Penatzer said. "There are not a whole lot of people going to school for that. It can be slim pickings. It's hard to find a qualified candidate as a city manager."

Then there is what he describes as "a reputation problem."

Penatzer credited current City Council members who "seem to be going in the same direction," "good department heads that are all working together toward the same goals" and "boards and commissions and volunteers all working for the betterment of the city."

But, he noted, "that's not always been the case here, unfortunately." Not long ago, a deep divide on City Council led to in-fighting, lawsuits and long, argumentative council meetings that were widely ridiculed by city residents. Johnstown has also been dealing with population loss, unemployment, blight, drugs and crime for years.

"You can't look as bad as you do and expect to be making progress, to be hiring quality people," Penatzer said. "You've got to clean up your own house. I think they've done that here in the last couple of years. It was an absolute circus here for a while. You don't need to name names or point fingers or anything. If people in the city don't see that, I'm telling you, everybody outside of the city sees it, and that's just not good."

As borough manager in Ebensburg, Penatzer helped develop the Young People's Community Center, the Ebensburg Tennis Center, the Wheels & Wings event and the Lake Rowena recreation area. He also dealt with annual budgets and contracts and worked with elected officials, business leaders and nonprofit organizations throughout Cambria County.

"I feel like having Mr. Penatzer, and all his knowledge and experience for this period of time that gets through the end of the year and to that reorganization meeting, and his ability to help us seek out a full-time, permanent manager because of his expertise and knowledge in municipal government, is going to be a great help for us," said Councilman Michael Capriotti.

Penatzer spent 11 years as Cambria County's director of emergency services. He previously served as manager of Forest Hills Emergency Medical Services.

"I think he'll do well," said Miller, Forest Hills EMS' current manager. "I think he'll be one that will be a straightforward honest manager that's going to give you the tough love when you need it, of, 'No, that's ridiculous.' He'll be a good one to be able to give the city tough love if they need it."

During his expected nine-month tenure, Penatzer will work to continue the city on its path to exit from Pennsylvania's Act 47 program for distressed municipalities and map out a plan for spending the approximately $32.2 million the city is scheduled to receive in American Rescue Plan funds for COVID-19 pandemic relief.

"I don't see why he can't be part of the team to lead us out of COVID and get the city upright. Especially here, again, we've got a lot of funding coming," Miller said. "There are going to be a lot of hard choices to be made of how to spend it, and everything. I think he'll be a good person to give ideas and suggestions to council and so forth on those."