“We’ve gone through the process and the candidates that council liked the most withdrew from consideration,” Woodrey said. “They both stated the requirement to live within the city.”
RELATED: Butler County, Hamilton officials among applicants for Trenton city manager job
Short of a voter-approved city charter amendment, the new top official must have a Trenton address.
“Councils’ hands are tied right now on that issue,” Woodrey said, adding as he is setting up new phone interviews with four other candidates on the list.
“When I call these people to ask them if they are interested in interviewing still, that’s going to be the first question I ask them,” he said of the residency requirement.
In-person interviews were conducted with the candidates but no job offers had been extended. He said Jennifer Patterson, Monroe’s assistant to the city manager for economic development and Milford’s City Manager Michael Doss have withdrawn their applications for the $95,000 a year job.
Woodrey said he was setting up phone interviews with four people and the city council during a Dec. 5 executive session.
Several Butler County government officials are apparently still in the running for the job, namely Mike McNamara, head of the Butler County Port Authority; Nick Garuckas, Hamilton city clerk; Marcos Nichols, Hamilton civil service and personnel director for the department of civil service; and Todd Farler, Madison Twp. administrator.
The job opened up this summer when John Jones left to become the city manager in Hamilton County’s Springdale.
Woodrey had hoped to have someone new at the helm by the first of the year, but said he is pretty sure that won’t happen.
Trenton’s new city manager will need to “hit the ground running with some economic development experience” so the city can continue to find industrial park users, but also secure more food and entertainment businesses, Woodrey told the Journal-News in August.
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