Assembly drops 'interim' from borough manager's title; hires Jeff Good

After nearly three months, Jeff Good can drop "interim" from his title. On Friday, the assembly announced it had selected Good as borough manager.

A committee took two days in executive session to interview Good and two other candidates for the job. The interviews, closed to the public, went Wednesday and Thursday, in part because one of the candidates, Kim Zimmerman, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who serves as borough manager of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, had to reschedule his interview for Thursday.

Also interviewed was Alexandra Angerman, CARES Act coordinator at the Wrangell Cooperative Association.

After pivoting the private Zoom meeting to a public session Thursday afternoon, Mayor Steve Prysunka announced the assembly had made a decision to offer the job. Though the mayor did not announce it at the time, the decision was made to offer the position to Good, which was announced by the borough in a prepared statement the next day after he had accepted the job.

The 50-year-old retired Coast Guard officer, who served as Kodiak base director from 2017 to 2020, was hired as interim borough manager on Nov. 1 at a salary of $9,000 a month.

He holds master's degrees from Duke University and the University of Illinois in engineering management and civil engineering, respectively, and has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Coast Guard Academy. His wife, Christy Good, grew up in Wrangell, and coaches the girls' high school basketball team.

Former borough manager Lisa Von Bargen, who resigned effective the end of October, earned $125,000 a year, said Borough Clerk Kim Lane. The assembly has yet to set Good's salary.

Good said switching from interim to borough manager is definitely a mental shift - going from maintaining the needs of the borough to looking at developing long-term goals for the next year, and the next three years.

Good has ideas in mind, but said Friday, "I want to meet with the assembly as well to have a collaboration with them and what they'd like to see."

Assembly members this week will be working on the details of Good's contract for presentation and approval at the Jan. 25 meeting.

Prysunka said he is thrilled Good took the job. "I enjoy working with him and I know the assembly does as well," he said Friday.

"The whole assembly is looking forward to work with him to address issues and improve on economic opportunities that are out there and keep the community moving forward," Prysunka said.