The Homer City Council will interview two applicants, both city employees, for city manager at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Cowles Council Chambers, City Hall. To be interviewed are Matt Clarke, deputy harbormaster, and Katie Koester, community and economic development coordinator.
At a special meeting Tuesday night, the council met to discuss candidates who applied during a one-week opening just for current city workers that ended on Monday. The council re-opened the application process after Jeffery Trinker of Rosenberg, Texas, withdrew his name from consideration after receiving a tentative job offer. The remaining candidate, Public Works director Carey Meyer, also withdrew. In a motion by council member Gus VanDyke at a March 9 special meeting, the council approved the one-week opportunity for city workers to apply. Clarke and Koester were the only city employees to apply.
Clarke has worked as deputy harbormaster since May 2008. Before that, from 1998-2007 he was a managing member of Smoke Wagon Water Taxi & Charter and from 1992-96 and 1999-2001 he worked as a commercial fisherman in the Bering Sea crab, Cook Inlet drift salmon, herring and halibut fisheries. He also was a roughneck at Prudhoe Bay from 1996-1998. Clarke has a bachelor of arts in business administration from Western Washington University, Bellingham.
Koester has worked at coordinator of community and economic development since 2011. From 2004 to 2011 she was chief of staff for Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, and also managed his election campaigns in the 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010 elections. Koester was born and raised in Homer, and has a master of political science from Pontific Catholic University of Chile and a bachelor of arts in government from Smith College. She is working on a master’s degree in public administration through a distance education program at University of Alaska Southeast.
The interviews are open to the public and comments on each candidate can be made after each interview.
Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.
