Two NW candidates among finalists to replace Paul BenoitA field of 75 applicants has been reduced to five looking to fill the position of Astoria’s community development director/assistant city manager, which became vacant after Paul Benoit left to become the director of development services for Alameda, Calif.

City Manager Dan Bartlett said he and four community members reviewed 22 applicants who made it through the initial cut and whittled that list down to five.

He said the four men and one woman – who hail from Oregon, Washington, Texas, Illinois and Wisconsin – are all experienced in the public and private sector and met the initial requirements set by the city.

An advertisement placed in the League of Oregon Cities job listings described the ideal candidate as “an experienced visionary leader with an understanding of historic preservation, economic development, brownfield redevelopment, land use and downtown revitalization.”

Also required was a bachelor’s degree in a related field preferably supplemented with a master’s degree and five to seven years of municipal government work experience as a supervisor, or some other combination of experience that would demonstrate an ability to handle the job. Salary range is $58,996 to $71,710.

The community members who helped Bartlett select applicants were John Berdes, managing director of the nonprofit development group Shorebank Enterprise Pacific; Roger Rocka, executive director of the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce; Randy Stemper, member of the city’s planning commission and owner of Astoria Builders Supply and Jim Wilkins owner of Jim Wilkins Co.

Bartlett said he chose those individuals to represent varying elements of the community.

The next step in the hiring process will be sending letters out to the five inviting them to visit Astoria and a round of interviews. After that, he said he will narrow the five down to two by May 30 and should have an offer out in early June.

Once an offer has been made and a candidate accepts, Bartlett said there’s usually a standard 30 days before the person joins the city staff. He said he expects Astoria to definitely have a new development director by the fall.

Whoever Bartlett decides to hire has some large shoes to fill. Benoit, a city employee for 17 years, was largely regarded as Astoria’s “visionary” when he left in late February. As the development director and assistant manager, Benoit helped create the RiverWalk and was a driving force in the early stages of the Safeway/American Legion block redevelopment.

His efforts, especially his work on the Mill Pond Village housing development built on an site plagued with environmental issues, received national recognition.