The Tuscaloosa News reported on Monday that officials in Northport appointed Joseph Rose, the city’s human resources director, as interim city administrator Monday night, after announcing the man who currently holds that title, Charles Swann, is retiring after 31 years at City Hall. Swann was appointed by the last City Council after former city administrator Scott Collins resigned from his position suddenly in April. Hiring a full-time replacement has been a council priority, and after a series of interviews, a field of 40 applicants for the job was narrowed to three qualified candidates for the council to consider hiring. According to the Tuscaloosa News report elections and runoffs in August and October resulted in turnover in three of the city’s five council seats and in the mayor’s office, though, and the new council disagreed with their predecessors about classifying the city administrator as a civil service position. As a result, the new council decided at its first meeting in office to start the job search from scratch, meaning a hire will likely not be made until well into 2017. Mark Tyner, County Administrator for Bibb County, had been reported to be one of the finalists for the job. Tyner told the Bibb Voice that he believes that the selection process will begin anew at some point in the future.
The entire Tuscaloosa News article may be found at the following link: http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/news/20161212/new-northport-city-administrator-named
