The Piedmont City Council hired Mark Roath as the new interim city manager Wednesday after interviewing two other candidates for the job.
The Piedmont City Council convened Wednesday morning in a special meeting to interview the three candidates for the interim position.
Jim Crosby, a former Piedmont and Yukon city manager, as well as Larry Mitchell and Roath, had applied for the position.
Mitchell was interviewed by council members in an executive session Wednesday afternoon. After a short recess, council members went back into executive session to discuss the candidates. The council members then voted 4-1 to hire Roath, with Councilwoman Melissa Ashford voting no. Council members Jonathan Hisey, Ron Cardwell, Kevan Blasdel and Austin Redus voted yes.
Roath was the first candidate interviewed Wednesday morning, followed by Crosby before noon.
Roath, an attorney who lives in Surrey Hills, has been a city manager in Oklahoma, and he has worked in city government in Texas, Florida, Nebraska, Ohio and New Mexico as well. He was the Coweta city manager, 1989 to 1992, and McAlester city manager 2007 to 2009. He was city manager of Alamogordo, New Mexico from 2009 to 2012.
Roath was the Castroville, Texas city administrator from 2014 to 2015.
Council members have voted to hire an interim city manager before hiring a permanent city manager.
The council voted to fire former City Manager Jason Orr in August over purchases of pickups without competitive bidding and Open Meetings Law concerns.
The council had previously voted to name Jennifer Smith as the acting city manager.
Crosby, 80, has been city manager in Norman, 1975-1987, and was city manager in Yukon from 1994 to 2011. He was Piedmont city manager for four years before returning to Yukon in 2016. Crosby then retired in January 2021 from Yukon.
