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Corbin Parks and Recreation Director promoted to interim City Manager
Posted On 25 May 2012
New interim Corbin City Manager Marlon Sams consults with Mayor Willard McBurney Friday following a special called meeting of the town’s Board of Commissioners.
A veteran city government employee has been promoted to serve as interim City Manager in Corbin, filling a void left after the town’s former chief quit this month after only five months on the job.
During a special called meeting Friday morning, the five-member Corbin Board of Commissioners unanimously agreed to make Parks and Recreation Director Marlon Sams City Manager. He will be paid $60,000 annually, and the salary can be adjusted based on performance and experience.
Out of over 60 candidates, Sams was a finalist for the job last year. City Leaders instead chose South Carolina native Mike Phillips. With Phillips abrupt departure, Sams soon became a top candidate for the post.
"It was just the most logical thing to do," said Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney following Friday morning’s meeting. "This is the best fix for us. We have someone that can step right in without missing a beat. Marlon is very familiar with city government. He is in his comfort zone doing this because he has been affiliated with the city for so many years. We were all on the same page in choosing him."
Sams, 53, has served as Director of the city’s Park and Recreation Department for the past 14 years, and served as Building Inspector for three years prior to that. After being named City Manager at the meeting, Sams said he was humbled by the decision and plans to work hard to follow through with projects and ideas to improve the quality of life in Corbin, as well as vigorously pursue grant funds to make those projects happen.
"I’m not going to come in and change a whole lot of things. I’m going to let the city work the way it does and work with the City Commission to get some of these projects going," Sams said. "I’m going to really go after grant money. I think there’s a lot of opportunities out there for grants."
He added that a biking/walking trail along Bacon Creek is a top priority. Expansion of the fire department’s main station is also high on the list. He also said the recreation facilities in Corbin are an important priority.
"We are outgrowing them," Sams said. "People from around the tri-county area are coming in to use [our facilities]. That’s a good thing and we need to look at building onto that and adding some things."
Sams starts in his new role immediately. For the time being, he will also continue to serve as Director of Parks and Recreation.Sams said he plans to meet, in the near future, with the city’s department heads individually in order to get a good feel for what is going on in each separate department.
The decision to hire Sams comes admist a push to possibly change Corbin’s form of government entirely. City Manager governments in Kentucky, for city’s the size of Corbin, are relatively rare.
Most towns have opted for a mayor-council configuration where the elected mayor essentially runs the day to day operations of the city. McBurney said an effort is underway to put the issue of Corbin’s government structure on the ballot for voters to decide. In the meantime, Sams will serve as City Manager in an interim capacity.
"We didn’t want to have to go through all the process of hiring someone, then pull them right back out if things change," McBurney said. "We jut don’t know yet what is going to happen with our form of government, so this was our best option."
If the issue does not make it to the ballot, or voters decide to stay with Corbin’s current government configuration, McBurney said it is very likely Sams will stay on as City Manager provided he is doing well in the position.
"We’ll evaluate it when we reach that point, but if he’s doing good, I don’t know why we would change."
Regardless, Sams will likely have quite a long interim period as city manager. Even if voters approve a change, it would not take effect until 2015 – a full two and a half years.
City leaders said from the beginning, Sams was a top candidate to be city manager, performing well during last year’s interview process.
"He was very strong, that’s why we really didn’t have any hesitation whatsoever doing what we did today," McBurney said. "There was a consensus among all the commission this was the right thing to do."
For his part, Sams said he is grateful to have a chance to be city manager and will be accessible to the public in his new role.
"It didn’t work out the first time. It wasn’t in God’s plan, but I’m glad the opportunity came around again," Sams said.
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A pool will NEVER pay for itself, it is more a benefit for your tax money. I speak from experience as an 18 yr parks and recreation professional. Most pools lose money annually, that’s simply a fact. Now if you want to build a waterpark and invest substantial money (million +), it will run in the black each year. After 30 years it truly may pay for itself. But a community pool will not.
A pool will NEVER pay for itself, it is more a benefit for your tax money. I speak from experience as an 18 yr parks and recreation professional. Most pools lose money annually, that’s simply a fact. Now if you want to build a waterpark and invest substantial money (million +), it will run in the black each year. After 30 years it truly may pay for itself. But a community pool will not.
A pool will NEVER pay for itself, it is more a benefit for your tax money. I speak from experience as an 18 yr parks and recreation professional. Most pools lose money annually, that’s simply a fact. Now if you want to build a waterpark and invest substantial money (million +), it will run in the black each year. After 30 years it truly may pay for itself. But a community pool will not.
I would love to see an indoor pool for people to use throughout the year, not just summer time. It would help get people out of the house and it would pay for itself within a few years. You can charge daily rates or buy an annual membership, I know a lot of people who would use it and it would be a great thing for the city.
The City Council should have listened to me to begin with and hire Marlon. He is a decent and honest man and he has no controversy whatsoever. I think he is just as capable of doing this job as anyone, the only question I have is his educational background. Sometimes it helps to have a BS in Public Adminstration or Business, but he definitely has the character and movtivaition that is truly needed in a job like this. Good Luck Marlon and I know you will do a great job.