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City Council on Monday accepted City Manager Omar Strohm's retirement, appointed Police Chief Joe Merrill as his interim replacement and named Deputy Police Chief Derek Swope as interim police chief.
Strohm has retired after 21 years as an Altoona employee, including the most recent three in the top administrative post.
Strohm, 61, will become associate vice president for finance at Penn Highlands Community College.
"Thank you for all you've done for the city," Councilman Dave Butterbaugh told Strohm, praising Strohm's handling of the city's "crazy" financial ups and downs and his willingness to always tell the truth to council members.
Strohm was excellent as human resources director, finance director, interim city manager -- with some of those jobs overlapping -- and then as permanent manager, after council asked him to "step up" three years ago, said Councilmen Dave Ellis and Ron Beatty.
Strohm did especially well in handling the city's $39.6 million allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act, particularly with his suggestion to use some of the money for business development grants, according to Ellis and Beatty.
"He helped lead us through the largest windfall the city ever received," said Councilman Jesse Ickes, referring to the ARPA money.
Early on in his managerial role, he helped negotiate three collective bargaining agreements, Ickes said, referring to that as "being baptized by fire."
Strohm always took council members' concerns seriously and did his best to get answers quickly, Ickes added.
"He's one of the most intelligent and thoughtful people I've ever worked with," Merrill stated.
Council approved a professional services agreement with Strohm at $500 a week so he can help Merrill with the transition over the next month.
The city has begun advertising for a permanent manager, and council members have put out some informal feelers for candidates, officials said.
Mayor Matt Pacifico said applications are being accepted from both current employees and candidates outside the organization.
Council has convened a group to review the applications and narrow the pool to a manageable number for interviews, Pacifico said.
Ideally, the hire will be made before March, Pacifico said.
Beatty said it's likely to take longer than that.
A recently convened committee of business people may evaluate and redefine the manager's position so that it would become more like that of a CEO who answers to a corporate board analogous to council, Beatty said.
He said there need to be clear directives about responsibilities and expectations and annual performance reviews to measure success, with rewards bestowed as appropriate.
Similar accountability should apply to department heads, Beatty said.
According to Beatty, the current setup was probably unfair to Strohm and his predecessors, because the accountability apparatus is lacking. He said council may hire a consultant to help set up the sorts of standards that should apply.
Council appointed Merrill as interim manager after evaluating internal candidates and coming to a consensus, Ellis said.
Merrill said he's not a candidate for the permanent post.
"It's my job to give council enough time to do a thorough search," Merrill said.
There has also been a change in the finance office, with the hiring a couple weeks ago of former Hollidaysburg Borough Manager Jim Gehret as finance director, according to Ickes.
He replaces Bessie Mosey, who retired in the summer.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.