Posted: 5:05 p.m. Saturday, May 17, 2014

Who’s the best candidate?
Depends who you ask

City manager hopefulsattend public forums in Middletown.

By Rick McCrabb

Staff Writer

       MIDDLETOWN — hey all were asked the same handful of questions, as a wayto keep the “playing field level,” but one question in particular createdanswers as diverse as the candidates and their backgrounds.

    The five finalists to be Middletown’s next city managerwent through several interviews Saturday morning, including one-hour publicforums in the lower level of the City Building. They were askedquestions that were posed from business leaders and others from the 10residents who sat through the five hours of interviews that began at 8 a.m.

     They also were given a bus tour of thecity Friday afternoon, met with city staff and attended a party that nighthosted by Mayor Lawrence Mulligan Jr. There were several groups thatinterviewed the candidates separately Saturday morning, and following eachinterview, they rotated to the next station.

    There are two internal candidates, DougAdkins, director of community revitalization, and Les Landen, the city’s lawdirector, and three external candidates, Cathy Davison, former city manager in Steubenville, Ohio; Jane Howington, citymanager in Newport, R.I., who also worked in Oxford and Dayton; and Willie NorfleetJr., city manager in Socorro, Texas.

    City council will receive input from thosewho attended the Friday and Saturday events, and hopes to name City ManagerJudy Gilleland’s replacement sometime in early June. Gilleland is set to retireon June 6.

    Tom Brickey, who facilitated the publicportion of the interview process, asked each candidate why they were the bestchoice and their plans for the first 30 days on the job.

Landen,who’s spent the last 20 years of his career in his hometown, said he may not bethe best candidate, and if he’s not, he hopes City Council selects who it feelsis the best for Middletown.

    Landen, though, said the city couldn’t finda better cheerleader, and earlier joked that he’s ready.

    “Give me the outfit,” he said with a sheepishgrin.

    Landen said he considers himself “prettysmart” and because of his experience, he understands the city’s problems.

    Howington has worked as a city manager in Oxford, Kalispell, Mont., and Newport, and as assistant citymanager for operations in Dayton. She said her “vastarray of experience” made her the best candidate, then added: “It depends onwhat you want.”

Asfor her first month on the job, Howington said she’d spend it developing astrategy.

Davison,who brought her family to Middletown last weekend to tourthe city, praised her certification with the international city manager’sassociation. By following that group’s oath, she said, she wouldn’t be “swayedby outside voices.”

    Then she added: “I work for all.”

    While she said it would be a daunting task,Davison said she’d like to meet every city employee during her first month onthe job.

    Norfleet Jr., who has served as citymanager in Compton, Calif., and Socorro, said hisability to be prepared and his education — bachelor’s and master’s degrees fromNorthern Illinois — gave him an edge over the other four candidates. His first 30days, he said, would be filled with “meeting after meeting after meeting.”

He’dlisten to everyone, whom he called the “stakeholders.”

    Adkins, the most talkative of thecandidates, managed a smile when he was asked the question. Initially he saidhe hadn’t stirred anything up in the city, then changed his mind.    “Not stirred everything up. That’s not beenmy job.” Adkins said since he works for   Gilleland, he does what he’s told.

    Adkins said he and Landen, since theyalready understand the city and its challenges, would start working faster thanthe other candidates because it would take them longer to adjust to the new job.