Oak Ridge council to vote on new city manager's contract Monday

Donna Smith, The Oak Ridger
·3 min read

A special meeting of the Oak Ridge City Council has been called for the afternoon of Aug. 28 to vote on the contract of Randall "Randy" Hemann as the new city manager.

The public meeting will be at 4 p.m. Aug. 28 in the Municipal Building courtroom.

On Aug. 22, Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch briefed the council on the status of hiring Hemann as the new city manager. Speaking at the end of a city council work session, Gooch said he'd had "three really good conversations" and texts with Hemann since Aug. 18 as part of the process of drafting his city contract.

"It's all very positive," he told council members.

He said the draft contract was by then in the hands of Hemann's attorney, who had been delayed in looking at it because of working at a days-long trial. Gooch added that Hemann wants to give the city of Mooresville, North Carolina - where he works as town administrator - 60 days notice before starting his job in Oak Ridge.

On Aug. 18, Oak Ridge council chose Hemann for the city manager position over fellow finalist Aretha Ferrell-Benavides by a vote of 5-2. Voting for Hemann were Mayor Warren Gooch, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Dodson and council members Sean Gleason, Charlie Hensley and Chuck Hope. Voting for Ferrell-Benavides, who most recently served as city manager of Duncanville, Texas, before being fired by its council by a 4-2 vote, were council members Derrick Hammond and Ellen Smith. The vote came two days after a public hearing with the two finalists answering questions from the public at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.

Hemann was born in Huntington, West Virginia. His resume, as previously reported in The Oak Ridger, shows he has a bachelor's degree in political science from Marshall University in Huntington and a master's degree in public administration from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. A large portion of his career has been focused on development in the North Carolina areas where he's worked: Salisbury, Kinston and Benton. He indicated economic and downtown development have been big parts of his role as town manager in Mooresville, assistant city manager in High Point and city manager in Oxford, his three most recent positions, all in North Carolina. In response to a comment from the audience at the Aug. 18 meeting, Gooch said Hemann doesn't expect to retire for at least 10 years.

What about the other finalists for city manager?

Ferrell-Benavides - the other finalist - is now one of four finalists for the city manager post in Largo, Florida, according to a story in The Progress Index, a newspaper based in Petersburg, Virginia, where she served as city manager 2017-21 before leaving to take the city manager's job in Duncanville, Texas.

Oak Ridge council selected three finalists from a field of six semifinalists for city manager. However, before the finalists came to Oak Ridge for the individual interviews with council and meeting with others on city staff and the community, Casey Bradley, city manager of Baraboo, Wisconsin, withdrew his name. W. Lane Bailey, senior vice president for GovHR USA, the executive search firm the city council hired to help in hiring a new city manager. said it wouldn't be appropriate for him to comment on the reason, when questioned by The Oak Ridger.

Now comes word that Bradley has been hired as city administrator in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. According to an Aug. 22 story in The Sheboygan Press, Bradley will assume the city administrator role on Oct. 23, after almost a year of the position being vacant. The town council had put the former administrator on leave last November. The Sheboygan council also hired a new director of planning and development.

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. This story includes informaton from The Progress Index and The Sheboygan Press, both newspapers owned by Gannett, which also owns The Oak Ridger.

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Randall "Randy" Hemann, left, speaks during an Aug. 16 public forum in Oak Ridge High School’s auditorium. Selected as Oak Ridge's new city manager, city council will vote on his contract Monday, Aug. 28. At right is Lane Bailey, senior vice president of GovHR USA, the search firm that council hired to assist them in finding a new city manager to fill the position left open by the May retirement of Mark Watson, who retired after 12 years in the role.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge council to vote on new city manager's contract Monday