Roanoke search for city manager narrowed down to final candidates

Announcement on new Roanoke city manager set for mid-August

Leonore Restaurant in Downtown Roanoke to expand (Image 1) (Copyright by WSLS - All rights reserved)

ROANOKE, Va. – Roanoke is expected to have a new city manager in place by the end of the summer. Only a few candidates remain out of the dozens who originally applied for the position.

In February, former City Manager Chris Morrill announced he was leaving the Star City after seven years to take a new job in Chicago. That's when the months-long search for a new city manager began.

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The city council plans an announcement by the middle of August, with a new city manager in place by early September.

City Councilman Dave Trinkle is heading up the search committee. He says more than 80 people applied for the job from all over the country. The search committee narrowed them down to about seven candidates the city really considered. 

Because of the positive impact that's been made on crime and safety issues as well as bringing in new jobs over the past few years, Trinkle says Roanoke has become an attractive place to work for these city manager hopefuls.

"We're looking for a city manager that can keep us heading the right way on the track that we're going," says Trinkle. The new city manager could help the city "deal with some of these issues we haven't gotten our hands around, some of the social issues and help reinvent a few areas. Roanoke has gotten a few wins and we need to keep getting a few more wins."

Community input has also played a major role in the search. Nearly 600 filled out an online survey on the city's website. They talked about some of the things they'd like to see change in Roanoke and what they'd like to see the new city manager improve on.

Tinkle says one of the things people liked most about Morrill is how he supported Roanoke, becoming a cheerleader for the Star City. That's one of the biggest qualities the committee is looking for in the next city manager, but Trinkle says they're also looking for someone who can bring their own spin to the region.

"We don't want to replace Chris Morrill with Chris Morrill," says Trinkle. "That would be unfair to anybody we hire. We're looking for a unique person who has their own qualities and their own make-up and can fill their own shoes to make an impact, but still be a good leader and be inclusive."

Some of the biggest issues the new city manager will have to address include social issues like mental health and access to health care as well as income disparity issues and bringing more big businesses and jobs to Roanoke.

Now, Trinkle says the search committee is zeroing in on the candidate who is expected to be offered the position, going through some of the final interview processes and making sure everything checks out before the big announcement is made.