After two virtual meetings, a finalist for the city’s top job is coming to town. The Sitka Assembly agreed to invite Gerrie Cotter to meet with Sitkans following her second interview for the municipal administrator position Thursday night (9-10-26).
During the public interview, assembly members took turns asking Cotter about her experience with fiscal management and working with tribal governments, her vision for her first 90 days on the job, and what big issues she anticipates Sitka will face over the next decade.
Cotter said the city would have to continue to tackle rising costs and inflation, ongoing school funding issues, and tourism.
“The tourism factor, I think it’s one of those things that is both a positive and a negative. It’s great as far as bringing in revenue to the community. Some of the negative is just the number of folks entering your community and using its services,” she said. “I think that that’s a difficult balance.”
Cotter has a law degree from Loyola University Law School in New Orleans, and a bachelor’s degree in international studies from West Virginia University, according to her application. She currently works as the administrator of Perry Township in Ohio, a community of just under thirty thousand people.
Before moving into the township administration job last year, Cotter spent nearly 14 years working for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, where she led a statewide workforce development program for young adults, and did policy work. She has also served as a trustee for a township in Ohio, and on a local school board.
Following Thursday’s interview, Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz told Cotter the in-person meet-and-greet will be a chance to see how she interacts with the community, and for the assembly to get feedback from Sitkans.
“Not only do you work for us, with us, you work for the community, right? So we need buy-in from everybody as well,” he said.
It will also likely be the last part of the process before the assembly decides whether or not to offer the position to Cotter, Eisenbeisz added.
Current municipal administrator John Leach’s last day on the job will be December 18.
