KETCHIKAN — A California city manager has been selected to serve as the new manager for Alaska’s Ketchikan Gateway Borough.
The Borough Assembly picked Ruban Duran for the job on Friday. He’s leaving his position as manager of the Southern California city of El Centro and will take over for the borough’s outgoing manager, Dan Bockhorst, on Dec. 19, The Ketchikan Daily News reported.
Duran was chosen to manage the borough over two other candidates — Washington state-based municipal employee Robert Grumbach and Albert Scott, who most recently managed a homeowners association near Dallas.
“I think he’s got a wealth of experience that will be helpful and relevant to Ketchikan,” assembly member Stephen Bradford said of Duran.
As manager of El Centro, Duran said he has been dealing with issues such as increased costs and financial burdens brought on by the state of California.
“It’s bad and getting worse,” Duran said. “The state continues to shift costs and work to the cities and counties and trying to take away revenues at the same time. It’s turning into a real difficult situation for the communities — particularly the rural communities in California.”
While Alaska is facing its own financial troubles with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, Duran said the state is in “a much better situation.”
“I think there’s a true desire by the state Legislature to do something about it,” he said.
Duran and his wife have already sold their house in El Centro and are looking forward to making the move to Ketchikan.
“The more we looked at it we realized, irrespective of the outcome, we want to live here,” Duran said. “This is a community that likes being a community. You have a great arts community — people like each other here.”
Duran’s five-year contract with the borough states that he will be paid an annual salary of $110,000. He will also be entitled to a 10-percent bonus if he remains in the position for the full term.
