Corbin to discuss appointment of interim city manager Friday; questions about form of government linger

Corbin Parks and Recreation Director Marlon Sams, above, is a leading candidate to be named the city’s interim city manager.

Corbin City Commissioners are likely to discuss this Friday who will serve as city manager in an interim capacity as questions loom about whether or not Corbin will change its form of government entirely.

Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney confirmed Tuesday that a special called meeting of the Corbin Board of Commissioner is planned for 8:30 a.m. Friday. Most of the meeting is likely to take place behind closed doors as city leaders discuss the issue of appointing an interim City Manager to replace Michael Phillips, who resigned abruptly last week after only five months on the job.

The leading candidate for the job appears to be Marlon Sams, a veteran city employee who is currently serving as Director of the town’s Parks and Recreation Department. He’s served in that capacity for the past 14 years. Prior to that, Sams was Corbin’s Building Inspector for three years.

"I’ve been asked about doing it," Sams said Tuesday. "I am interested."

Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney said that while city leaders have not formally discussed the idea, he personally favors Sams being appointed to the role.

"Marlon can do it. He’s got the experience and he is very familiar with city government," McBurney said. "It would be the ideal quick fix for us in my opinion, but we haven’t all sat down and really discussed it yet. I’m not sure how all the other commissioners feel."

The leadership shuffling in city departments comes amidst an ever intensifying push to change Corbin’s governmental structure from a City Manager system to the common Mayor-Council form of government.

Several city leaders have publicly expressed their support for the idea including McBurney, and Commissioners Joe "Butch" White and Joe Shelton.

Bruce Carpenter, Director of the Corbin Economic Development Agency, said he plans to meet this week with J.D. Chaney, General Counsel for the Kentucky League of Cities, regarding the legalities of making such a switch. He added he hopes to organize a public forum in the near future designed to inform citizens about alternatives to the current City Manager form of government.

"You’ve got pros and cons with any type of government you choose," Carpenter said. "I want them to come here and lay out for the citizens of Corbin what our options are. This is a fact finding mission to lay it out there for the people to look at it and determine for themselves what they want to do."

Carpenter said he personally favors a Mayor-Council form of government because it gives voters more direct input over who runs the day-to-day operations of the city.

In a Mayor-Council government, the elected mayor has considerably more executive authority than under the City Manger plan. If changed, the mayor could supervise all departments of city government and has the ability to hire and fire, or otherwise discipline, city employees. He would serve as chair of council meetings, but does not get a vote except in the case of a tie.

Under the Mayor-Council plan, a mayor can also veto ordinances approved by the council.

Currently, Corbin has four city commissioners. If changed to a Mayor-Council plan, the new council would have at least six members and could have up to a dozen.

According to Kentucky law, any initiative to change a city’s government plan has to be approved by voters. There are two ways to get the issue on the ballot. The City Commission could simply approve a resolution calling for a vote on the issue. The second way is through a citizen-initiated petition that has signatures of registered voters equaling at least 20 percent of the number of people who voted in the city in the last general election.

McBurney said he doubts city leaders would approve a resolution to put it on the ballot, leaving a petition drive as the only likely route.

"I think that is just something we would let the people decide if they want to do it or not," McBurney said. "We really want their input on this more than anything."

The deadline to get the issue on the ballot for the November General Election is the second Tuesday of August. A petition would have to be presented to the County Court Clerk by that date and certified as legitimate.

If the issue isn’t put on the ballot, the city would then be required to begin the hiring process for a full-time city manager.

If voters approve a change, it would not take effect until Jan. 2015 as the mayor and commissioners would need to serve out their terms under current city government configuration.