Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: TUESDAY, May 11, 1993 TAG: 9305110051 SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Town officials will welcome him that morning.
Combiths, 43, was chosen April 7 by Pulaski Town Council from about 140 applicants to succeed Town Manager Don Holycross.
Holycross left after three years on the job at the end of January to become the first town manager for Atlantic Beach, N.C. Rob Lyons, assistant to the town manager, has been handling managerial duties in the interim.
It will be a kind of homecoming for Combiths, who grew up in Pulaski and still has a brother, Allen, living here. It was his brother who told him about the job.
Mayor Gary Hancock, in announcing Combiths' selection last month, said Combiths has the kind of experience the town needs right now.
Combiths received a political science degree from Randolph-Macon College in 1972 and a master's degree in public administration from California State University in 1978.
He served in the U.S Navy from 1972 to 1976, and helped manage a submarine squadron's operations office.
From mid-1978 to mid-1979, he was an administrative intern for La Mirada, Calif. From then until mid-1980, he was administrative assistant for the city of Paramount, Calif.
He moved to Brea, Calif., as associate planner and acting city planner until early 1985, and has been in Palmdale, Calif., since then.
Combiths started as acting director of planning and senior planner at Palmdale. In 1987, he became deputy city administrator and, in 1991, started as deputy executive director for its redevelopment agency.
He maintained in that job, where he administered a $12.5 million budget, until accepting the Pulaski offer.
Palmdale grew in population from 20,000 to nearly 90,000 people during the time Combiths worked there. He said much of that growth was attributable to people moving out of Los Angeles and finding affordable housing available at Palmdale.