Yakima City Manager Cliff Moore has named current City of Yakima Public Works Director Scott Schafer as Interim Assistant City Manager. Schafer will serve in the Interim Assistant City Manager role until a decision is made regarding how to fill the position in the long term.
“Scott has extensive experience working for the City for almost 25 years,” said Moore, who recently accepted a job as WSU Extension Director in Jefferson County, Washington. Moore’s final day as Yakima City Manager will be August 20th.
“Scott has served with distinction in every position he has held at the City,” said Moore. “I am confident he will bring that same level of commitment to his role as Interim Assistant City Manager.”
Schafer has worked for the City since July 1996 when he was hired as a Lab Technician in the Wastewater Division. He was promoted to the position of Environmental Analyst in the Wastewater Division in September 2003 and then to the position of Assistant Wastewater Division Manager in July 2005. In September 2008, Schafer was named to serve as the Acting Wastewater Division Manager and became the City’s Wastewater Division Manager in February 2009.
In June 2013, Schafer was named Interim Public Works Director. In December of that year, the “interim” label was removed from Schafer’s title. He has served as Public Works Director since that time.
The Assistant City Manager position has been vacant since Ana Cortez, who was hired into the position in October 2017, left to become the City Manager in Helena, Montana in mid-January of this year. Prior to Cortez being hired, the Assistant City Manager position had been vacant since 2012.
The position went unfilled for nearly 5 years as a result of spending reductions.
In late July, the Yakima City Council appointed current City of Yakima Senior Assistant City Attorney Cynthia Martinez to serve as Interim City Manager while the Council works to hire someone to fill the Interim City Manager role on a longer-term basis. Martinez will assume the Interim City Manager job on August 21st.