City sets special meeting Wednesday to interview City Manager candidates

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

The Fernley City Council has scheduled a special meeting at 2 p.m. Wednesday to interview the three finalists for the vacant city manager position. The City received 10 applications for the position, and the search committee formed and headed by Mayor Neal McIntyre interviewed seven applicants, before narrowing the field to three to be interviewed by the council.

The three finalists for the job are Dawn Collins, George Zoukee and Michael Toombs.

The position was opened when city manager Patrick Marsh was fired Dec. 16. The Council later agreed to a separation agreement with Marsh and accepted his resignation. Since then. McIntyre has assumed the dual role of mayor and interim city manager.

At the March 1 city council meeting, councilman Albert Torres said communication between city department heads and the council has dried up since Marsh was relieved of duties, saying he feels like the council is being left in the dark regarding many city matters, including the search for a city manager.

Councilman Ryan Hanan said that with a couple of other city leadership positions vacant, some staff members are doing the jobs of two or three people.

“What I’m noticing is they don’t have the time to communicate as much as we need,” Hanan said

In response, McIntyre accepted responsibility, saying as a new mayor he was unsure about how much communication the council wanted from him.

“I guarantee that will happen a lot more often,” he said.

Each candidate at Wednesday’s meeting will be asked a series of questions by the mayor. The city council and mayor will have an opportunity to ask for clarifications. Each interview is limited to 45 minutes. Upon completion of the interviews, the mayor and city council will deliberate and the Mayor will make a recommendation for appointment. After the mayor’s recommendation for appointment, city council may make a motion to consent or not consent.  The mayor may choose to repost the position if a suitable candidate is not selected.

Collins is the Town Administrator/Clerk of the Town of Palmer Lake, Colo., where she was previously the Town Clerk/Deputy Manager. She has also been the City Clerk of Lodi, Wisc. and Appleton, Wisc. and Village Clerk of Ashwaubenon, Wisc.

Tombs was the Fernley Deputy City Manager from November, 2020 to October 2021 and is currently an installation program integrator for the Department of the Navy at Naval Air Station Fallon. He was Tribal Administrator for the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe and was an analyst for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Zoukee is a self-employed real estate investor who has served as the Associate Administrator for the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration, Director of Finance for Transportation Corridor Agencies in Irvine, Calif. and treasurer of the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority.