By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
The Piedmont City Council convened Wednesday morning in a special meeting to interview three candidates for the interim city manager position.
Jim Crosby, a former Piedmont and Yukon city manager, as well as Larry Mitchell and Mark Roath, had applied for the position of interim city manager.
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.
Mark Roath was the first candidate interviewed Wednesday morning, followed by Crosby before noon.
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 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.
Larry Mitchell is a former executive director of the Yukon Economic Development. He has most recently served as the City of Watonga interim city manager before Karrie Beth Little was hired in Watonga.
(Photo courtesy of Watonga Republican)
Mark Roath, an attorney who lives in Surrey Hills, has been a city manager in Oklahoma, and 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.
The meeting in in Piedmont at the George Fina Municipal building Wednesday is scheduled to start at 9 a.m., and candidates were expected to be interviewed in-person in executive session.
Two candidates have been interviewed, one at 9 a.m. and the second one at 11 a.m. The third interview was scheduled for 2 p.m.
Orr came under fire last year over the purchase of two pickups and telephone calls to council members. Piedmont municipal ordinance requires the city manager to seek competitive bidding for purchases over $10,000.
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