City Manager Finalist for Colorado Job

Updated with comments from the city manager

City Manager Rick Eckert is one of five finalists for the county manager position in La Plata County, CO, according to Colorado's Durango Herald.

The newspaper reports that the five were chosen from 87 initial applicants. It also says Eckert has served as Powder Springs' interim city manager since June, though he was hired as the full-time city manager in 2010.

Eckert told Patch that he applied to a few locations when November's elections were "very iffy." Former Police Chief L. Rick Richardson, whom for allegedly approving the unauthorized sale of police vehicles, was in the running for mayor.

Eckert, who was born in Colorado Springs, also noted that his mother, a 100-year-old World War II veteran, and his sister live in Colorado. “It’s kind of home."

La Plata County this week passed a $74 million budget for 2012; by contrast, Powder Springs' annual budget is $6.7 million.

In discussing Eckert, the Herald references . In it, he says Mayor Pat Vaughn wasn't "running me off" when for the county manager position in Jackson County, GA.

Former Floyd County Manager Kevin Poe won that job, the Gainesville Times reported.

Eckert wrote that he applied for the job for a personal reason and because of Richardson's firing.

A city or county manager serving for 10 years or more with a single incorporated government is "very rare," he told Patch

“There’s a lot of mobility in the profession, and that’s understood," he said, noting that, in general, reasons for transitioning can include family, personal or political. 

When Eckert began with Powder Springs in May 2010, he had to hurriedly prepare the budget that began two months later. He also helped the city prepare  with no layoffs, furloughs or tax increases.

In an , City Council members recognized that Eckert spent “a great deal of time and attention” in , as well as the hiring of the  and .

Eckert makes an annual salary of $115,000.

He graduated in 1973 from Southwest Missouri State University and came to Powder Springs from CH2M Hill. Eckert signed a two-year contract with the city in 2010, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Before Eckert, Vaughn had been acting city manager since November 2008, when City Manager Charles Nickerson was placed on leave and eventually fired, a separate AJC article says.

Vaughn also , after Dane Perry left, until Nickerson was hired in April 2007.