THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 13, 1996 TAG: 9608130283
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 77 lines
The city manager of a rapidly-developing Denver suburb said Monday that he is one of two finalists for the Chesapeake city manager's job.
Aurora, Colo., City Manager John L. Pazour, 52, said Chesapeake council members told him they want to make their final choice quickly. But, he said, they gave him no idea when they would decide.
Pazour, who Aurora officials said is skilled at growth control and municipal finance, informed Aurora's mayor, Paul E. Tauer, on Sunday that he was a finalist in Chesapeake.
Mayor William E. Ward and members of the Chesapeake council refused to comment on the city manager search or to release the name of the second finalist.
Pazour was told he was a finalist two to three weeks ago, he said from Aurora Monday.
The Chesapeake Council is expected to meet either today or Thursday to discuss the search for a new city manager in an executive session that has been extended three times over the last two months.
The council last week extended the session for another 15 days - until Aug. 22.
Chesapeake has been without a full-time city manager since Oct. 17, 1995, when the council voted 7-2 to fire James W. Rein.
Assistant City Manager Clarence V. Cuffee has been serving as interim city manager since.
Pazour said he has visited the area twice since being approached about the Chesapeake job by James L. Mercer, an Atlanta-based municipal recruiter who is running the city's nationwide search.
Pazour said he was in Chesapeake last week.
Mercer and Pazour knew each other when they both worked in Washington, D.C. Pazour was not actively pursuing a job until Mercer approached him about the opening in Chesapeake, Pazour said.
Pazour has been city manager in Aurora since April 1990. He was promoted to the position after serving about a year as Aurora's deputy city manager for administration.
From 1984 to 1988, Pazour worked for a Boulder, Colo., computer firm. Pazour came to Colorado in 1981 to become divisional vice-president for Beaver Creek Resort. He moved up to director of corporate information systems for Vail Associates, which owns the Vail and Beaver Creek ski area.
Pazour has also served as deputy secretary for income maintenance for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where he helped manage the state's welfare program.
He also worked six years for the International City Managers Association in Washington, D.C.
Pazour was born in Iowa and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1966 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He spent a year at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago, studying finance and information systems. Pazour earned a master's degree in public management with an emphasis on computer systems at Carnegie Mellon University.
Pazour earns about $110,000 in Aurora, Colorado's third-largest city, with about 250,000 residents.
Chesapeake has advertised the city manager's position as paying between $100,000 and $140,000.
Pazour signed a five-year contract extension with Aurora last spring. The contract, however, allows him to leave after giving 90 days' notice, he said.
``I had no idea what to expect from the area,'' Pazour said of Chesapeake, adding that he was interested after his first visit.
``What really impressed me was the beauty of the area and the energy of the people and what I saw being done in the area,'' he said. ``There was a real challenge of how to manage that growth in a way that does not damage the beauty of the area. I really liked it. . . It clearly is a different kind of community.''
City council members in Aurora said Friday and Monday that Pazour was skilled at mastering budgets and at growth control, two issues that are also important in the Chesapeake council's search for a new manager. ``He's a very good city manager,'' said Aurora Council member Ginny Zinth. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
John L. Pazour by CNB