Brad Ryan served as Haines interim manager twice. (Emily Files)
Skagway continues its search for a permanent borough manager.
Haines Public Facilities Director Brad Ryan is among the five candidates to be interviewed for the Skagway borough manager position. He is the only Alaska resident among them.
“Skagway’s got interesting stuff going on. They’re negotiating with White Pass, they’re looking at ferry authority… The family, selfish-oriented things they’re doing that interested me is they’re out for design for the $6 million rec center and, you know, it is a step up in a career,” he said.
“I wanted to apply and at least have a conversation with them. So here we go, I hope.”
Ryan has been the public facilities director for close to four years. He served as Haines’ interim borough manager twice in the last five years. In 2017 he applied for the permanent position. He was popular with borough administration, but the assembly hired current borough manager Debra Schnabel.
That same year the municipality of Dillingham extended him an offer for their manager position, but he decided to stay in Haines.
“I really liked Dillingham and the people I was dealing with, but at the time it wasn’t right for [my family],” he said.
“So I held off, Debra [Schnabel] also encouraged me to stick around and made me an offer to stick around for a couple years and I’m at that and I wanted to honor that. So it’s the right time to be looking around if something’s interesting and a good fit, then it would be great.”
Skagway has been on the hunt for a borough manager for the last year. The municipality recently hired former mayor Stan Selmer to act as interim borough manager until one week after a permanent borough manager is hired.
The Skagway Assembly will host phone interviews with all five candidates on Saturday June 22nd from 3 to 8 p.m. in Assembly Chambers. After preliminary phone interviews, the field will be narrowed to three applicants for in-person interviews.
