The schedule for interviews of the four finalists for the open Yakima city manager position has been finalized. The finalist interviews will begin at 8:30 am on Tuesday, May 10th and will conclude at 12:30 pm that day.
The finalist pool includes current Othello City Administrator Wade Farris, current Thurston County Manager Cliff Moore, Mike Jackson, who most recently served as Spokane Valley’s city manager, and Ruth Osuna, who is currently an assistant city manager in Brownsville, Texas.
The four finalists will each be interviewed separately by both the City Council and a seven-member community panel. Farris will be the first to be interviewed by the Council while Osuna is being interviewed by the community panel (8:30 am – 9:30 pm). Jackson will be the next finalist interviewed by the Council while Farris is meeting with the community panel (9:30 am – 10:30 am). The Council will then interview Moore while the community panel is interviewing Jackson (10:30 am to 11:30 am). Osuna will be the final candidate interviewed by the Council and Moore will be the last to meet with the community panel (11:30 am to 12:30 pm).
The interviews by the Council will take place in the Council Chambers at Yakima City Hall. The community panel will interview the finalists in the 2nd Floor Conference Room at Yakima City Hall.
The community panel, which was selected by the City Council, includes Yakima attorney Hector Leal, longtime Yakima radio marketing consultant Ron King, Dave Edler, senior pastor at Yakima Foursquare Church and a former Yakima mayor and council member, Yakima attorney Blaine Tamaki, Dana Dwinell, owner of D2 Communications, a Yakima advertising and marketing firm, Tom Trepanier, owner of Windemere Real Estate-Yakima, and writer/consultant Bridget Russel.
The four finalists will be in Yakima for a community reception on Monday, May 9th. The reception will take place at the Yakima Convention Center in the lobby outside the South Ballroom from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm and will be open to anyone wanting to meet the finalists.
In January of this year, the City Council launched a process to find a replacement for Tony O’Rourke, who served as Yakima city manager from July 2012 through December 2015. From a total of 20 applicants, The Prothman Company, the executive search firm hired by the Council to recruit city manager candidates, presented the Yakima Council with a pool of eight semi-finalists. During an April 25th executive session, the City Council reviewed the semi-finalist pool and selected the four finalists during its May 3rd business meeting.
Yakima City Manager Finalist Interview Schedule – News Release