Find out more about the six candidates for Oak Ridge city manager

Donna Smith, Oakridger
·4 min read

Oak Ridge City Council members have narrowed the field of city manager candidates from 11 to six, and they will interview the five men and one woman online on July 17 and 18.

A public meeting for candidate interviews will be at 6 p.m. each night in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Training Room. Three candidates will be interviewed each night. Council is expected to narrow the number further, and those finalists will come to Oak Ridge for in-person interviews at a later date.

The six candidates are:

  • Brian J. Borne, Gastonia, North Carolina;

  • Casey Bradley, Baraboo, Wisconsin;

  • Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides, Duncanville, Texas;

  • Randall W. "Randy" Hemann, Mooresville, North Carolina;

  • Arthur J. "A.J." Krieger, Broomfield, Colorado; and

  • Julius Suchy, Rockford, Michigan.

The city council chose the six from the 11 candidates recommended by GovHR USA, the executive search firm hired earlier this year to help fill the vacancy left by the May retirement of Mark Watson. Since the names and information on the 11 were presented to council on June 16, two of the 11 - Shannon Lavrin and John Manning, who worked in Greenville, South Carolina and Branson, Missouri, respectively - pulled out of the running because they have been hired for other jobs, according to information from the city clerk and GovHR President Heidi Voorhees.

Several of the candidates were fired by their councils, although the facts behind those terminations were not made public.

Contacted by The Oak Ridger via email, Vorhees stated: "Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for city managers/administrators to lose their positions. It is typically due to a change in the political dynamics of the elected body. One of the many selling points of the Oak Ridge city manager opportunity is the elected body's efforts to work toward consensus and when they disagree, they do so respectfully."

Watson worked as Oak Ridge's city manager for 12 years before he retired in early May.

Following is a brief synopsis of each of the six candidates, summarized from the information GovHR provided city council.

Brian J. Borne worked as the city manager for Monroe, North Carolina - population 35,000 - from June 2022 to February, as well as having worked as interim city manager from July 2021 until he was hired in the permanent position. His work with Monroe extended back to 2008, having worked as parks and recreation director, assistant city manager and Downtown Monroe director.

On Feb. 28, Borne said in a written statement, he was fired by the Monroe City Council by a 4-2 vote. He said he was the eighth city manager fired by the council in the past 14 years. Media reported that Borne and the city attorney were both fired. The two were reportedly given pay equal to a year's salary and benefits.

Casey Bradley is the city administrator for Baraboo, Wisconsin, population 12,000. Prior to this position, which he's held since 2020, he worked as county manager/administrative coordinator for Adams County, Wisconsin, population 21,000. Previous roles include financial positions for counties in Wisconsin, North Dakota and Minnesota.

Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides has worked as a city manager in several cities: 2021-2023 in Duncanville, Texas, population 41,000; 2017-2021 in Petersburg, Virginia, population 33,500; 2015-2017, city manager, and 2014-2015, deputy city manager in Glenn Heights, Texas, population 17,000. The Duncanville city council fired her by a 4-3 vote earlier this year.

Prior to the city manager jobs, she held positions in higher government for the district of Washington, D.C. She also served as assistant city/county administrator in Los Alamos, New Mexico, another city like Oak Ridge where the U.S. Department of Energy is a major employer.

Randall W. "Randy" Hemann is the manager of Mooresville, North Carolina, population 51,500. He previously served as assistant city manager of High Point, North Carolina, population 114,000, and city manager of Oxford, North Carolina, population 9,000. He's held other positions in government in North Carolina.

Arthur J. "A.J." Krieger is town manager in Firestone, Colorado, population, 18,800. He's previously held positions as town administrator and city manager in Erie, Sheridan and Northglenn, all in Colorado, as well as city manager in Ferguson, Missouri, and assistant city manager in Decatur, Illinois. These towns' and cities' populations range from 6,100 to 84,000. He was fired by the Erie board of trustees in 2018.

Julius Suchy is the manager of Ada Township in Ada, Michigan, where he's worked since 2020. Population is 14,500. Prior to that job, he worked as village manager in Sparta and Dundee, Michigan, populations 4,250 and 4,000 respectively. He also worked as city manager in Vassar, Michigan, population 3,000. He reached a separation agreement with the Dundee council in 2014.

The Oak Ridger's News Editor Donna Smith covers Oak Ridge area news. Email her at dsmith@oakridger.com and follow her on Twitter@ridgernewsed.

Support The Oak Ridger by subscribing Offers available at https://subscribe.oakridger.com/offers.

The Oak Ridge Municipal Building
The Oak Ridge Municipal Building

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge council narrows field of city manager candidates to six