BILLINGS- The city of Billings announced Friday its four finalists for city administrator.
The four men were chosen following a closed-door meeting of the Billings City Council Wednesday and will travel to Billings Oct. 9 and 10 for additional interviews.
Here are the candidates’ backgrounds, according to the city:
Dan Chandler, assistant county administrator, Clackamas County, Oregon (Pop. 401,000) for eight years; for three years prior, he served as Senior Assistant County Counsel. Received his J.D. from Harvard Law School; B.A. in Political Science and Public Administration from Western Washington University;
Jeff Jones, deputy city manager/chief operating officer and assistant city manager since April 2016, Mesquite, Texas (Pop.145,000), and assistant city manager of Hurst, Texas from 2002 to April 2016. Received his Masters of Public Administration from Texas Tech and his B.S. in Political Science and Sociology from Black Hills State University.
Chris Kukulski, executive vice president for business development for Zoot Enterprises since June 2017. Prior to that, Kukulski served as city manager for Bozeman (Pop. 45,000) from 2004 to April 2017. Received his Masters of Public Administration and his B.S. from Western Michigan University;
Philip Sanders, served as city manager, Anna, Texas (Pop. 12,800) for 10 years until December 2017, and prior to that was Director of Community Development for the city of Greenville, Texas. Received his Masters of Public Administration and his B.A. in History from Brigham Young University.
Current Interim City Administrator Bruce McCandless will retire Nov. 16. McCandless has been the interim administrator since Tina Volek retired Sept. 30, 2017.
The city agreed to hire Great Falls City Administrator Greg Doyon nine months ago but final contract negotiations broke down and Doyon declined the offer.
