Former SeaTac City Manager Craig Ward has been offered the city administrator's job in Troutdale, Oregon.
He is expected to be paid $120,000 and begin his new job in August.

The SeaTac City Council removed Ward from his duties as SeaTac city manager in October, just before voters decided on a proposition that would have replaced the city manager position with an elected mayor.

The resolution lost by nine votes but elected mayor proponents contend King County Elections did not count all eligible ballots. Proponents say they submitted valid signature cards for approximately 25 voters whose votes had been challenged by the Elections staff.
Ward was a focal point in the election as proposition supporters criticized him over cost overruns on fire station construction supervised by King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson's husband, a critical state auditor's report, a controversial tree retention ordinance and the condemnation of a private parking lot.

Ward was never terminated as SeaTac's city manager and his position was not eliminated in the Nov. 3 election.
However, Rick Forschler and Pam Fernald, both active proposition supporters, were elected to the City Council in the November election. Deputy Mayor and Councilman Gene Fisher also supported elimination of the city manager position.

Also following the election, the SeaTac council voted to rescind the condemnation action and began backing away from the Ward plan for an entertainment district next to the new airport/city center light-rail station.

Former Assistant City Manager Todd Cutts has been serving as interim city manager since Ward was removed in October.
The divisions Ward faced as city manager are still evident as the City Council on July 13 discussed a motion to place another elected-mayor proposition on the November ballot.

Forschler, Fernald and Fisher voiced support for the motion while Mayor Terry Anderson as well as Councilmembers Tony Anderson, Ralph Shape and Mia Gregerson opposed it. Terry Anderson is a councilwoman selected by fellow council members to serve in the largely ceremonial role of mayor.

The importance of the debate was underscored by the fact that Tony Anderson and Fisher participated via telephone. Fisher, a commercial fisherman, was approximately 100 miles off the Pacific Coast while participating in the debate.

Fernald requested that action be delayed for two weeks. The council is expected to vote on the motion at their July 27 meeting.
Earl Gipson, sponsor of the previous proposition, told the Times/News that he will resubmit the resolution next year if the council does not place the measure on the November ballot.

Ward may not escape uncertainty over his role in his new Oregon job. He was hired as a city administrator, not as a city manager.
Steve Beaven of the Oregonian newspaper in Portland reports that the Troutdale City Council has proposed changing the responsibilities of the city administrator. In a charter amendment slated for the November ballot, the roles of mayor and administrator will be more clearly defined.

The city administrator has been running the day-to-day city operations and reporting to the council as Ward did in SeaTac. However, the current Troutdale city charter outlines a similar role for the elected mayor.

Troutdale, about 30 miles east of Portland at the western entrance to the Columbia Gorge, has about 15,000 residents.