Josie Bahnke is once again the acting city manager of Kodiak. That’s following the City Council’s decision to reappoint her to that role last week on Oct. 24.
Bahnke, who was formerly the deputy city manager and then acting city manager, will only hold that position temporarily while the council searches for its next permanent replacement for the position. Bahnke started as acting city manager on May 1, and was serving a second 90-day tenure until she announced her intent to step down on Oct. 25, a day after the council’s meeting, which also coincided with the end of her most recent 90-day appointment.
The City Council unanimously made that decision during its regular meeting on Thursday night, Oct. 24.
Earlier this month, the city’s departments’ directors submitted a letter to the council suggesting that it end its search for an interim city manager, which was brought up during a special meeting on Oct. 17. Instead, city staff said that they would collectively share the burden of running the city’s business on a temporary basis with Bahnke, if she were to be the acting manager.
Councilmember Annika Woods said during the Oct. 24 meeting that she and others on the council were happy with that proposed solution.
“I think we’re saving city voters a lot of money by not hiring an interim and just keeping it internal," Woods said. "I just want to give kudos to our department heads for stepping up and coming up with a very practical solution.”
On Thursday night, the council also took action on retroactive pay for Bahnke. Councilmember Bob Stanford, who was acting as the mayor in Pat Branson’s absence, said Bahnke deserves a 25% increase to her base rate since she has been doing two jobs, being both deputy manager and acting city manager, for months.
“Where do you come up with the number? I just started to look at what it was going to cost us to have an interim manager," Stanford explained. "So this amount over six months is what it would cost us to have an interim manager for one month.”
Stanford explained that the additional $19 per hour raise to her base rate would be retroactive and take effect on July 1, 2024.
After lengthy discussion about the final amount, the council approved a retroactive pay raise for Bahnke in the same motion to name her acting city manager again.
The council’s hiring committee met last night, Oct. 30, to discuss potentially hiring a professional firm to recruit for the next permanent city manager.
*Editor's Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Bahnke was previously the interim manager. She has only been the "acting city manager" not the interim. This has been updated and KMXT regrets the error.
