Delaware City Council has narrowed its pool of candidates to replace outgoing City Manager Tom Homan down to four, the city announced on Thursday.
Last year, Homan relayed his intention to retire after 26 years of service to the city, starting a national search by the city to identify his successor. With the plan to name that person in June, Homan has agreed to stay in the role until July to ease the transition.
The pool includes three out-of-state candidates — Paul Brake, Christopher Miller and Mike Reese — and one in-state target in current Piqua City Manager Paul Oberdorfer.
Brake is the former city manager of Royal Oak, Michigan, a role he served for nearly four years. Before that, he was a city or county manager in Morgantown, West Virginia; Grand Blanc, Michigan; and Shiawassee County, Michigan. Brake is a member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), ICMA-CM, a member of the Michigan Municipal Executives, and a certified economic developer.
Miller spent three years as a former county manager of King George County in Virginia. He previously was a county or city manager in three jurisdictions in Colorado and Alabama and served as executive director of the Northeast Texas Regional Transportation Agency and Southeast (Alabama) Planning Commission council of governments. He is an ICMA member.
Reese is no stranger to central Ohio, having served as the chief of staff for former Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman. He served as the city manager in Maplewood, Missouri, for two years and has 19 years of executive-level experience. He is a member of the St. Louis Area City Management Association.
Oberdorfer has served as the city manager of Piqua for more than three years. He has 14 years of executive-level experience serving as a deputy city manager and public works director in Charlottesville, Virginia, director of public service in Green, Ohio, and facilities manager for Ohio. He is an ICMA member and belongs to the Ohio City/County Management Association.
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