County down to two job finalists

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Delaware County is down to just two candidates to fill its vacant economic development director position.

For the second time in the county’s search to fill the post, D. Craig Thompson has withdrawn his candidacy for the position.

The two remaining candidates are Raymond A. Hagerman and Robert R. Lamb.

Thompson was one of the three finalists scheduled to interview with Delaware County commissioners this week for the position.

He initially withdrew his candidacy late last month after a public information request was filed by The Gazette seeking an updated list of the candidates for the job.

“Craig Thompson is withdrawing his application from the search for the economic development director (position) due to the records request for resumes,” Dawn Huston, the county’s assistant administrator, wrote in a July 1 email. “Please don’t include him in any article you print because it will jeopardize his current employment.”

But according to county spokeswoman Teri Morgan, he later re-established his candidacy for the position and was considered one of three finalists for the job last week — before again dropping out.

Thompson currently serves as the director of economic development in Miami County. He did not return a message left at his office seeking comment Friday.

Lamb currently serves as community and economic development manager in Upper Arlington. Before that, he was the economic development administrator for the city of Glendale, Arizona, and a special projects planner in the city for a short time.

He has a law degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and master’s degree for urban planning and development from Cleveland State University.

Hagerman is the CEO at Four Corners Economic Development in Farmington, New Mexico. He previously served as vice president of investments and entrepreneurial signature program director at the Dayton Development Coalition; president of Nextedge Development Corp. in Springfield, Ohio; and director of finance at the Turner Foundation in Springfield.

He has a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Tennessee.

According to a time line of the recruitment process provided by the county, one of the candidates will be extended an employment offer next week.

Two other candidates decided not to seek the position after public information requests by The Gazette, according to county officials.

The county fired its previous economic development director, Gus Comstock, last September.

Comstock was notified of his termination Sept. 2 through a letter sent to him by county Administrator Tim Hansley. He had been on “an indefinite doctor-approved medical leave” since at least June 20, 2014. County officials have declined to say why Comstock was fired.

Comstock has since taken taken a position with Marion CAN DO!, a non-profit economic development agency in that Ohio city.

Commissoners may name economic development director soon

By Dustin Ensinger

[email protected]

Dustin Ensinger can be reached at 740-413-0902 or on Twitter @EnsingerDG.

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