City manager pool is down to 7

Carson City Fire Chief Stacey Giomi and Jeffrey Fontaine, executive director of the Carson City-based Nevada Association of Counties, are among seven people the Board of Supervisors will consider for the open city manager post.

The other five are Timothy R. Hacker, former city manger in North Las Vegas; David Johnston, Maple Valley, Wash., city manager; Nicholas Marano and Associates Consultants of Carlsbad, Calif.; James Nichols, Midland, Texas, assistant city manager; and Curt Rauhut, resources management director with the Army in San Antonio.

Giomi said he wanted to continue his public service here as the city’s top executive.

“The city manager must be a cheerleader for our community, the citizens who live here and the employees who serve them,” he said in a cover letter that accompanied facts about his background provided to the consulting headhunter.

Heather Renschler of Ralph Andersen & Associates, the Northern California headhunting firm, received 79 applications.

Nine applicants later withdrew, and Renschler then pared the list to the group she is forwarding as qualified and recommended.

The board will review her work Thursday, a step that leads later this month and beyond to community exposure and interviews of whichever candidates continue passing muster throughout the process.

Fontaine, the other candidate with local ties, said in his cover letter that serving as the executive director of the Nevada counties organization give him knowledge of how local governments operate and provide services, “including best practices and regional solutions.”

He cited community service that included school board membership and two local/regional planning units.

Hacker, the other candidate in the group from Nevada, was city manager in North Las Vegas until September. He took over there two years earlier. Previously, he was Mesquite city manager from 2006-11.

“My current search comes as a reality of changing political direction and priorities at my prior engagement as city manager,” Hacker’s cover letter said. He said the change in North Las Vegas resulted from “election of a new mayor, council member and changes to council leadership.”

He said he was viewed as a “change agent” and during his tenure “unique approaches to resolving unsustainable labor agreements were implemented.”

Johnson, the candidate from Washington state, cited in his cover letter a 26-year career in public service, including the past five as city manager of Maple Valley, a community of 24,000.

“I have always been sensitive to the importance of earning and keeping the public trust, and the need to develop strategic partnerships to help achieve community goals,” he wrote.

Nicholas Marano, managing member since 2012 at Marano and Associates, Consultants, before that served in the military and from 2009-12 was a colonel and commanding officer at Marine Corps Base Camp at Pendleton, Calif. He characterized that as covering both the mayor and city manager roles for the Marine Corps’ largest base.

“I am experienced and comfortable working within a complex system, and understand the role of the city manager in relation to the Board of Supervisors, elected officials, department directors and the community,” he wrote.

Of the two Texans, Nichols’ cited municipal management experience and Rauhut pointed to his background in finance and the military.

Nichols, the Midland assistant city manager, has experience in Nevada and did post-graduate studies in Las Vegas. He has been in Midland since spring 2011, but from mid-2009 until April. 2011 he was deputy city manager in Las Vegas. He was deputy city manger in Goodyear, Ariz., from 2005 to 2009. He also has a public works background and is an engineer.

“My technical background and public works experience provide me with the essential tools to oversee Carson City’s financial, capital and resource needs,” he wrote.

Rauhut, an active Army brigadier general, is retiring in July. He cited strengths in financial management, budget development and analysis, accounting and auditing, strategic planning, contract management and team building.

“As an accomplished senior executive,” he wrote, “I offer leadership that will benefit Carson City.” He said he is a detail-oriented leader, self-motivated and responsive to changing demands in business, industry and government.

The packet provided to the board listed the recommended candidates alphabetically, as did this article, with the exception of naming the local entries in reverse order when it began.