By Leslie Moriarty

Herald Writer

MONROE — Two names familiar to many in Snohomish County are on the list of candidates for interim city administrator here.

Bill McDonald, city manager in Snohomish, and Tom Meyers, former city administrator in Arlington, are among four candidates the Monroe City Council will interview on Wednesday.

Monroe’s city administrator, Bill Verwolf, will leave Oct. 19 and begin work the following Monday in Lynden as city administrator. He announced his resignation two weeks ago.

McDonald recently announced he was leaving Snohomish after almost five years to complete study in the Carver administration model, developed by a company based in Atlanta. The Carver model is used in cities as well as with companies as a method of communication and work delegation between various levels of managers and employees.

Monroe does not use it.

McDonald said he is interested in the interim job, but said it would be presumptuous to think about the permanent job in Monroe at this time. He leaves Oct. 31.

Meyers left Arlington at the end of 2000, citing personal reasons. He had been in Arlington since April 1986.

He could not be reached for comment.

The two other candidates’ names were not released. Verwolf said are from Washington state but not from Snohomish County.

The interim position in Monroe will begin Oct. 22 and continue until a permanent administrator is chosen.

The city council has approved two contracts with Waldron Resources of Seattle. One covers the selection of an interim city administrator, and the other applies to the firm’s work to help the council select a permanent city administrator.

Monroe will pay Waldron $56 an hour, and the company will pay its own expenses and the interim city administrator’s salary from that amount. A $500 a month housing stipend also was approved.

When the company finds a permanent administrator, it will get the equivalent of 25 percent of that person’s annual salary. For example, if the new administrator is hired at $88,000, the salary amount that Verwolf is leaving at, Waldron will receive $22,000 for its work in helping the city council select that person.

If the interim administrator is hired permanently, the company will get 10 percent of the starting salary for the first year, after which the amount drops to 5 percent for the time the person remains with the city.

Waldron has placed interim administrators in Bothell, Marysville and Monroe in recent years.

Verwolf said the timetable has not been set for selection of a permanent administrator.

You can call Herald Writer Leslie Moriarty at 425-339-3436 or send e-mail to

moriarty@heraldnet.com.