||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS |||
San Juan County invites the public to meet and interview the finalist for the County Manager position. The remaining candidates will visit each district on Tuesday, May 7, escorted by County staff.
During these in-person community meetings, the public will have the opportunity to write down questions to be asked in a moderated Q&A. Materials will be provided at the door.
Community Meetings:
San Juan Island
- San Juan Island Grange
- 152 1st St N, Friday Harbor, WA 98250
- Doors open: 8:30am
- Meeting time: 9:00-10:00am
Lopez Island
- The Family Resource Center
- 23 Pear Tree Lane, Lopez Island, WA 98261
- Doors open: 10:45am
- Meeting time: 11:15-12:15pm
Orcas Island
- The Orcas Center
- 917 Mount Baker Rd, Eastsound, WA 98245
- Doors open: 2:15pm
- Meeting time: 2:45-3:45pm
The selected finalists will be interviewed all day Monday, May 6 by a series of panels comprised of Council members and other elected officials, County staff, and board members from various County committees. The County Council is the ultimate hiring body for the County Manager position.
Currently, San Juan County’s Health & Community Services Director, Mark Tompkins, is serving as the Interim County Manager and the County’s Parks and Fair Director, Brandon Andrews, is serving as the Interim Assistant County Manager.
I think selection of new County Manager should be postponed until after the two new County Council have been elected. This is very important and only logical because it will be the new County Council members who will be working directly with the new County Manager in the future, not the outgoing County Council members.
The Interim County Manager made it clear from the moment he agreed to take the helm that he wishes to return exclusively to his duties as Director of Health and Community Services as soon as possible. I am grateful for the stability Mr. Tompkins’ leadership has provided for the County staff and intend to do my part to honor our agreement to fill the position permanently as quickly as prudence and practicality allow. We are in the final phase of a recruitment process run in close collaboration with a professional search firm. The three finalists have been winnowed down from more than thirty applicants. I hope you will join us for the meeting and provide feedback on which of the three candidates you think will best serve San Juan County.
This is a puzzling statement, perhaps due to a grammatical error. Why do we get to meet only the candidates who did not pass muster? Or am I missing something here?
Job well done! I went to the meeting today and got to meet and listen to the three final candidates. They were all highly educated, and each seemed aptly qualified for the position. I was extremely impressed with all three of them.
As there’s nearly a year left before the new councilor’s take office, I say, “Do your jobs and fill the County Manager position now, and not later.” It is my hopes that a qualified DCD candidate will also show up, and that you can fill that position “sooner then later” as well.
I was able to attend the meetings today with the San Juan County Manager candidates on San Juan , Lopez and Orcas. I feel this process has been done well, Council, HR and additional staff did a great job today and they produced three good candidates, that if elected, I would look forward to working with and they would be good leaders for San Juan County. I support our Council in selecting the next county manager when they feel is appropriate.
Thank you to San Juan County for a great day and thank you to all three candidates for wanting to serve our community.
Attended the Orcas meeting. All three finalist have professional and personal backgrounds and demonstrated personalities (and humor) that qualify them to be County Manager.
Well done to the San Juan County government for the new manager search process, the only downside being that only one of these three excellent candidates can be selected.
Kudos and thanks to the County Council and Interim Manager Mark Tompkins for doing this process right. Members of the public got to meet the candidates, and the candidates got a taste of the issues important to Islanders. In the Orcas meeting I attended, the public asked pertinent and incisive questions, giving the finalists an opportunity to reveal their attitudes and approaches to issues. We have three good candidates and, as a result of the very thorough and public vetting process, we’re assured of having a good next County Manager. I hope the Council and new Manager will do the same in selecting our next Community Development Director to help chart our future development.
Missed the meeting but will throw my two cents in anyway:
To all who say wait til the new administration takes power – what are the 3 top candidates supposed to do in the meantime? Let the process finish out! Money may NOT be wasted; these qualified candidates can’t afford to wait around while we dither about partisan politics or lame ducks. The task is to come up with the best person for the job when that’s needed (NOW) and that seems to be what is happening. Let the process finish. There would be no more money wasted than to cancel out this whole selection process and start all over again in January. That seems wasteful of time, money, and trust in the intentions of finding the right candidate and letting Mike Thomas get back to his former role. It also seems like fearmongering and planning for failure just because some folks don’t like the current council. In my experience of many years here, there have been council after council who have gutted environmental protections at the expense of unlimited growth and a solely tourism based economy, when we’ve been asking for decades for an honoring of other qualities of life besides economic growth and development of every possible parcel. We can do better and we have asked for it time and again. The very people complaining about this are the ones who want the status quo to continue – what kind of message does that send to current young people and future generations?