Norris ready to make offer to city manager candidate
Joshua Anderson, left, one of the applicants for the Norris city manager position, undergoes his interview with the Norris City Council on Wednesday, Aug. 3. Council members pictured here are, from left, Robert Sain, Will Grinder and Bill Grieve. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The offer will go to Joshua W. Ray, a North Carolina native who until recently had been city manager in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
Councilmembers informally agreed Monday night to terms of the contract they plan to offer Ray, which includes a base salary of $108,000 a year plus benefits, and a moving allowance of $7,500.
That offer will be in a contract that the council is sending to its lawyer for review, and which is expected to be approved during the council meeting today (Aug. 10).
Getting Ray to take the position is not a sure thing, however. He told the council during his interview last week that he has a third interview this Thursday for a city manager job in North Carolina, and that he expects to find out next Monday whether he will be offered that position.
Ray was terminated by the Shelbyville City Council earlier this year after taking the job there in 2021.
He has held city manager positions in four different states over the past 15 years, including Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas and New Mexico.
His resume says he holds a master’s degree in public affairs from Western Carolina University, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina.
He said he is a native of Waynesville, North Carolina.
Ray was one of six candidates for the Norris job who were interviewed by the council during three evenings of special meetings last week.
He was interviewed on Thursday, and immediately seemed to become the council’s favorite candidate.
That sentiment was sealed last Friday night when the council chose Ray as one of two candidates to go on the short list of finalists, and councilmembers indicated he was the top choice among those two.
Second choice was Gregory Scott Collins, a native and current resident of Caryville, where he has served as mayor in the past. He was recently terminated from the city administrator’s position in Fayetteville, Tennessee, where he had held the position since 2013.
Whether Collins would be available to take the Norris job in case Ray declines remains unclear. Ironically, Collins expects to get an offer from Shelbyville on Thursday (Aug. 11) to fill the city manager position that Ray held until his recent termination.
Norris Mayor Chris Mitchell said neither of the top two candidates might be available to take the Norris job, which could mean either going back to the other candidates who already applied, or reopening the job for additional applicants.
Anderson County Commission Chairman Joshua Anderson made the list of six candidates to be interviewed, and was the first to do so, last Wednesday night.
But because Anderson has no city manager experience, the council decided not to advance him to be a finalist for the position. Anderson noted, however, that neither of the two previous Norris city managers had any experience in the position before they were hired.
In last Thursday’s county general election, Anderson easily won re-election to the County Commission for District 3, leading the vote among three candidates vying for the two seats.
The City Council will meet again at 7 p.m. Monday to decide what to do next if Ray does not accept the job. The council agreed to give Ray a deadline of 4 p.m. Monday to give the city his decision.
Scott Hackler, who had been city manager since spring 2019, submitted his resignation in June, but is continuing to perform some duties of the job on a part-time basis until the end of August.