Minturn holding meet and greet for town manager candidates
Ben Roof / Courtesy image
The town of Minturn has narrowed down its town manager search to four finalists, and the community will get a chance to meet those candidates on Wednesday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Minturn Town Hall.
The candidates — Chris Castilian, Rob Gutierrez, Sharon Jakubowski-Wolz — have been selected following a nationwide search that began after former Town Manager Michelle Metteer left in February to become the city administrator of Ouray. The Town Council has appointed Katie Sickles to serve in an interim role during the new town manager hiring process.
On Wednesday, locals will have a chance to ask questions of the candidates and fill out comment cards, and on Thursday, the Town Council will interview each finalist in a closed-session meeting.
The council will then engage in a cooling-off period for at least two weeks before selecting a candidate. The candidate will then be offered the job and a contract will be be negotiated.
“If that negotiation fails, then we go to No. 2, and so forth and so on,” said Mayor Earle Bidez.
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The town has released the following information on the candidates:
Castilian is a resident of Denver and currently serves as a senior executive director and faculty member at the University of Denver. He has more than 25 years of experience leading public, private, and nonprofit organizations, as well as project management, strategic planning and staff development, with a background in policy advancement and building successful teams. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from California Lutheran University, a doctorate from the University of Denver, and a certificate of senior executives in state and local government from Harvard University.
Gutierrez is a resident of Indian Hills, Colorado, and serves as the Director of Community Development for Gilpin County. Prior to coming to Colorado, he previously served in planning, development and engineering roles in New Haven, Indiana, as well as serving on the board for the New Haven Board of Public Works and Safety. He has managed infrastructure projects including road reconstruction and sewer line reconstruction, and also has a background in facilities maintenance. He holds a bachelor’s degree in natural sciences from Utah State, and a master’s in infrastructure planning and management from the University of Washington.
Jakubowski-Wolz’s background is in municipal management, including strategic planning, financial oversight, public policy development and intergovernmental relations. She is currently the city manager for the City of Holbrook, Arizona, and was previously the town manager for Kearny, Arizona, and an interim manager for Walsenburg, Colorado. She has a bachelor’s degree in international business from California State University and a master’s of business administration from Pepperdine University, and is a certified public manager.
—This story has been edited to reflect the fact that one of the candidates withdrew her application
