Anniston council city manager search moving forward

The Anniston City Council is set to move forward with the next phase in their search for a new city manager.   The council had extended the application deadline by a month and offering a higher salary range, which brought in another 37 candidates, bringing the total to 78.  The council raised the  top of the salary range from $120,000 to $150,000.Of the 78 candidates, 28 have five years of experience managing local governments, and three more have served as assistant managers. Four more have served as department heads in local governments.  The candidates include attorneys, municipal judges, congressional interns and staffers, directors of convention centers, an architect, college instructors, accountants, fire fighters, police officers, sheriff’s deputies. Several have served as elected officials in their communities, and others have commanded military installations from Georgia to Alaska. Another ran for mayor of Anniston last year. A few noted their achievement as Eagle Scouts.  One applicant is a former special agent with the FBI. Another was a special investigator who conducted national security investigations on active federal employees and applicants.  A few of the applicants are Anniston natives, but most come from other states, including Florida, Georgia and Mississippi as well as California, Virginia, Rhode Island, Montana and Michigan.  Mayor Vaughn Stewart has said he would like to see the council narrow its pool of applicants to between five and 10 by the end of this month and begin interviews in August in hopes of having someone in place by september 1^st when current city manager Don Hoyt is scheduled to retire.