Interim city manager Brooks Chandler reflects on his time in Nome
Three months has come and gone, and Interim City Manager Brooks Chandler is packing his bags to leave Nome, he hopes better than he found it. Chandler stepped in the role temporarily after former City Manager Glenn Steckman resigned and to concentrate on finding a permanent replacement.
“My goal was to get stuff done,” Chandler said in an exit interview with the Nugget.
Beyond the focus to aid in the search for a permanent city manager, Chandler sought to do as much as he could in the limited time he had.
“I think it was just two days after I got here, I learned that the collective bargaining agreement was set to expire on the end of the year. So that became the number 1a priority,” Chander said.
On Monday the Nome Common Council passed a resolution on the collective bargaining agreement between the City of Nome and the City of Nome Employee’s Association for 2025-2027. Among other changes there will be an 8.2 percent increase in employee wages beginning January 1, 2025, with annual increases occurring in 2026 and 2027.
With his previous job as attorney for the city, Chandler has been coming to Nome since January of 1984. He has firm background knowledge of the Port of Nome expansion, working relationships with the mayor and some city staff, and a fair amount of knowledge of city code, which allowed Chandler to pick up where Steckman left off after his September 1 departure.
Chandler said his attachment to the community of Nome is “very sincere” and when he got that call from Mayor John Handeland asking to step in temporarily, despite his retirement status, he had a few reasons to consider the offer.
“Well, it’s nice that someone would want me to consider this job. And then, I felt like I would be able to be effective and actually do something,” Chandler said.
Some of the tasks he set after were easier than others, like amending city code to reflect the 5 percent year-round sales tax as a as Nome voters decided in a ballot measure in 2022 to get rid of the seasonal sales tax increase to 7 percent. Other ventures will take a bit more time like an update of the City’s personnel policies which date from the late 1990s. Under Chandler, the project has been kicked off but will need to be picked up by the next person as it’s been started and dropped a few times before.
Some things ended up on his plate unexpectedly, like the Army Corps of Engineer’s cancellation of solicitation of bids for phase one of the Port Expansion project at the end of October.
“I had sat in the same room with them [Army Corps] at the Richard Foster building within a week or so after getting here, and there was not a peep that this was even a possibility,” Chandler said. “But it wasn’t anything that you could undo. So, it’s just a matter of trying to deal with it.”
What a surprise
Though he’s visited Nome many times and even lived here for a three-month stint before, Chandler, who’s permanent residence is in Girdwood, was surprised by the magnitude of development that has gone on with Norton Sound Health Corporation and their plans for expansion.
He also said in his experience as a city attorney for many other Alaska communities, the Nome Police Department has elevated their services over the course of his time observing it.
“I can tell you that no matter what people are saying today or what their impressions are today, that the law enforcement services provided by the Nome Police Department are in a much better place than I think they’ve been in decades, and that is a process, and it’s moving in the right direction,” he said.
Chandler acknowledged there is a lot that still needs to be done to strengthen the NPD’s relationship with the community, but said under the right conditions, conversations can be held to give people an opportunity to listen, understand and forgive.
Another surprise from Nome was the quality of working relationships between the city and entities like Kawerak, Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation and NSHC.
“There’s some available synergies, and I think there’s room to expand that,” Chandler said about local collaboration.
When asked about shocking parts of being city manager, Chandler immediately answered: Paperwork.
“I am coming away with a lot greater respect for the demands that and it’s probably not just a Nome city manager, but any city manager faces on a day-to-day basis,” Chandler said.
A couple nuggets of advice to the future person in his seat would be to have confidence in the city staff who have an excellent grasp of operations and figure out a way to lessen the monotonous paper signing.
Speaking of the future, the recruitment process for a permanent city manager is moving along at a pace to be expected, Chandler says. He anticipates about three more months before the seat is filled, until then he said he hopes to have an acting interim to replace him, so the duties don’t fall on city staff.
The city is working with an executive search firm who are completing a brochure on the position and will begin the nationwide sweep to find the right fit starting next week, Chandler said in an update to the Nome Common Council on Monday, his last meeting before his departure.
In the meantime, Megan Onders was hired as Assistant City Manager and began December 9. According to the latest report from Chandler to the Common Council, her responsibilities were expanded to include economic development and public relations.
Chandler will conclude his time in Nome on Monday, December 16.