Rorie Watt will be Juneau’s new city manager. He’ll replace Kim Kiefer, who retires April 30.
Watt said besides the budget, he anticipates spending a lot of time on housing issues. He said the new job will be intimidating, but he’s excited to dig into the complicated work.
“I just think that the manager’s job is the juggler of so many different things. I think it’s just going to be fun. I don’t think it’s going to be easy. But if you think about something like this and you have your heart and your mind into doing the best you can for the community, I just can’t think of anything that’s going to be more fun and rewarding,” he said.
Watt, 51, has worked for the City and Borough of Juneau for 22 years. He directs the city’s Engineering and Public Works departments. The two departments merged in January 2015 as a cost-savings measure. He became engineering director in 2008 and has served in a number of other city roles.
The Juneau Assembly chose Watt out of a pool of 56 candidates spanning two application periods. He didn’t apply the first time.
The other finalist was Fred Parady, deputy commissioner for the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development.
Mayor Mary Becker was on the city manager hiring subcommittee. She said Watt was the natural choice.
“The assembly just saw the security and the consistency in keeping someone who was coming from inside who had so much knowledge about what we need to do,” Becker said.
Watt will be responsible for about 600 employees and an annual city budget of about $80 million.
His first day on the job is April 18 and his annual salary will be $164,998.
Watt says he’ll work with city staff to figure out who will be the next director of Engineering and Public Works.
