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Marshall will manage city again as interim

Council votes to rehire former staffer to replace Marcinko

Marshall

City Council on Monday voted to hire veteran municipal consultant Peter Marshall of State College as interim manager until it can find a permanent replacement for Marla Marcinko, who is taking a job as manager of Sewickley Borough.

Marshall served as interim manager for a year previously, ending in May 2015, when Marcinko began work in Altoona.

In deciding to hire Marshall, council took into consideration his prior experience in Altoona and his ability to help council recruit a permanent successor for Marcinko, said Mayor Matt Pacifico.

“We’re fortunate to have the opportunity to work with him again,” said Councilman Dave Butter­baugh. “He always had a nice place in his heart for us.”

Not only does most of council and staff know him, but he’s kept in touch with Altoona’s governmental affairs since he left, Butterbaugh said.

Marcinko

Marshall will be working a few days a week, as he did last time, starting next week, Councilman Erik Cagle said.

The search for a permanent replacement will take three to six months, Cagle predicted.

The city will advertise widely for that permanent replacement, officials said.

Marshall will begin work here by trying to “catch up,” he said Monday by phone.

He doesn’t have a “game plan,” but intends, rather, to keep the city on its current course until council can find a permanent replacement, he said.

He enjoyed working with council and staff during his previous stint and was impressed by the quality of both groups, he said.

As a municipal consultant, Marshall has been busy since leaving Altoona, having undertaken 45 contracts, including interim management for a few municipalities and a number of studies, he said.

He’ll be paid $95 an hour, the same rate as before, according to Butterbaugh.

Marshall took over the first time in April 2014 from Omar Strohm, the city’s finance and personnel director, who became interim manager the previous August without giving up his regular posts, upon the retirement of longtime Manager Joe Weakland.

Council ultimately hired Marshall in the belief that three jobs for Strohm — actually four, because he also supervised the property maintenance code officers — were too much for one person.

Organizations that Mar­cinko has served as manager have been saying their goodbyes in recent weeks, including the Inter­govern­mental Storm­water Com­mittee, the Central Blair Recreation and Park Com­mission, the Altoona Water Authority and the Greater Altoona Economic and Development Corp.

The Water Authority staff presented her with a framed aerial picture of the Horse­shoe Curve reservoir complex, “to remember us by,” as stated by authority Gen­eral Manager Mark Perry.

Perhaps more than any other manager he has worked with, Marcinko was willing to look past the walls of City Hall to benefit the city, said Patrick Miller, CEO of GAEDC.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.

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