Albany city manager pick ready to start around Oct. 1

ALBANY – The Albany City Commission selected its new city manager on Wednesday in a 5-2 vote, picking the candidate who was a finalist during an earlier search for the city’s top executive.

Commissioners Vilnis Gaines, Jalen Johnson, Bob Langstaff, Chad Warbington and Mayor Bo Dorough voted in favor of hiring Terrell Jacobs, who was a finalist for the position in 2015.

Voting no on Jacobs’ hiring were Commissioners Jon Howard and Demetrius Young.

Contract negotiations have not been completed, but the advertised salary for the job was between $225,000 and $275,000.

The other finalist for the position was Albany CFO Derrick Brown, who has been serving as interim city manager for about three months.

Jenkins has previously served as the city manager in the Georgia cities of Douglas and Union City and was assistant manager for the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government. Since 2018 he has served as municipal services consultant with the Georgia Municipal Association.

In his capacity with the GMA, Jenkins has served as facilitator for Albany commission retreats for several years, Ward IV Commissioner Chad Warbington said.

More than 30 applicants applied for the position.

Jacobs said he is looking at being onboard around Oct. 1 and is ready to get to work with commissioners, staff and residents to address needs of the community.

“Having been a city manager in two other cities and assistant city manager in some others, there’s a lot of opportunities in Albany in terms of trying to move forward the slogan ‘The Good Life City,’” he said. “That may be public safety, quality of life (issues) like dilapidated buildings and blight, the aesthetics of the city. We want people when they come into the city, and the citizens to be proud. The city has a lot of infrastructure needs.”

The commission would not have gone wrong with either pick, Warbington said.

“We had probably the two best candidates we could have had,” he said. “At the end of the day, Terrell’s more seasoned. He has more city manager experience. “Terrell comes with just a wealth of experience. He’s been doing the retreats like he has for Albany for dozens of cities. He knows the challenges. We have challenges. I think Terrell is going to help us make some progress with our challenges.”

Special Photo: Liesa Cole