THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 21, 1995 TAG: 9510210281
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: By PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
The city has received about 115 applications for its vacant city manager post, City Clerk Dianne Pierce said Friday.
The application deadline was Thursday, and Pierce said the city would continue to accept applications postmarked on that day.
``Some more will trickle in, maybe Monday,'' she said. ``They're from all over. We got right many from the coastal and central states.''
City officials would not say if interim City Manager Victor Sharpe was among the applicants. Sharpe, who has held the acting post since June, would not comment.
``I would just rather wait and let council go through the process,'' Sharpe said.
No information about the applicants was released. Applications for city manager positions are not public record, said David Lawrence, a municipal law expert with the Institute of Government in Chapel Hill.
The manager position opened when Ralph A. Clark announced his resignation May 31 after working more than four years in Elizabeth City.
The city has received about 30 more applications this time than during the last manager search, Pierce said.
Mayor H. Rick Gardner said he was a ``little bit surprised'' by the high level of interest.
``I would have thought 75 would have probably topped it out,'' he said.
The council will establish its formal procedures for weeding out candidates at its meeting Monday, Gardner said. He said he hoped the council members will personally score each applicant before the meeting.
Gardner also said he hoped the new manager would be hired by the same council members who accepted the former manager's resignation. Councilmen-elect Don Cherry and Zack Robertson will take over for departing Councilmen David Bosomworth and Pete Hooker in early December.
``I'm shooting to do it in 30 days,'' Gardner said. ``I would like for us to have it completed before the new council comes in. . . . I feel that we can.''
Gardner said some ``very, very good applications'' were submitted. by CNB