THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 20, 1994 TAG: 9410200417
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Myles E. Standish, Isle of Wight County's top administrator and a 12-year veteran of Suffolk government, was officially hired Wednesday to become Suffolk's next city manager.
Standish, 44, received a unanimous vote of confidence from the City Council, three months after the quick departure of former City Manager Richard L. Hedrick.
``We feel like we've got a good man to lead us into the year 2000,'' Mayor S. Chris Jones said.
Standish will begin work Dec. 1 and will be paid $78,000 a year. He makes about $61,500 annually in Isle of Wight, where he will announce his resignation at a Board of Supervisors' meeting tonight.
Standish said Wednesday that he will move from Smithfield to a home on Chuckatuck Creek that he has maintained since leaving the city in 1987.
Known for quietly and meticulously managing government, Standish thanked the Suffolk council for its confidence. He said he always wanted to be the manager of a ``dynamic city.''
``It's just extremely nice that that city is Suffolk,'' he added.
The city received 147 applications for the position, and Standish was one of six finalists.
Council members and city officials declined to name Standish's challengers or to comment on the selection process.
Standish recently took Isle of Wight County through a $20 million school-building program that resulted in three new schools. He is also credited with creating the county's first comprehensive growth management plan as well as extending sewer lines throughout the sprawling county.
Suffolk City Council members said Standish's experience managing a large, predominantly rural county was a deciding factor in his getting the job.
Standish left Suffolk as an assistant city manager in 1987 to become county administrator in Isle of Wight. He first arrived in Suffolk in 1975, landing a job as an administrative analyst with the city.
Suffolk's previous city manager, Hedrick, tendered his resignation July 20 at the close of a council meeting.
Two months later, he permanently left Suffolk after striking a closed-door deal with the council to leave 2 1/2 months before his contract expired. Jones said Hedrick was allowed to leave early so he could find a new position.
Hedrick was named the new county administrator in Polk County, Fla., this month. ILLUSTRATION: JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI/Staff
Myles E. Standish, 44, pausing outside City Council chambers in
Suffolk, received a unanimous vote of confidence from the City
Council on Wednesday, three months after the quick departure of
previous City Manager Richard L. Hedrick.
KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK CITY MANAGER by CNB