In 2022, as Soldotna City Manager, I partnered with Mila Cosgrove of Workplace Solutions, to develop a comprehensive set of recruitment and retention strategies to enhance the municipality’s ability to attract, hire, and retain a high-quality workforce.  

We did this through taking a broad look at potential strategies, then narrowing it to ultimately a list of 9 which best fit the City’s needs and goals.

I presented the package of strategies to the City Council, which passed a resolution adopting the set of policies, and subsequently initiated the various programs through code amendments and budget authorizations.  By the end of the project, we successfully achieved:

• The City’s first ever:

• paid parental leave program;

• Employer matching contribution into deferred compensation plan

• Reducing employee share of Health insurance premium

• Codified Sabbatical program for long-standing municipal employees.

• Recognized by the Alaska Municipal League in 2023 as ‘Best Practices’