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Ashland council prepares for hiring Scoles appointment expected tonight By SARA MURPHY ASHLAND -- The City Council is set to appoint Greg Scoles as its next city administrator. The council is expected to confirm the appointment at its meeting tonight, which begins at 7 in the Council Chambers, 1175 E. Main St. The council appeared prepared to hire Scoles, 45, the city�s assistant administrator since 1996, after a brief meeting Monday to discuss whether to pursue a full-scale search for a new administrator. Scoles was the selection committee�s No. 2 candidate when Mike Freeman was hired as administrator in 1998. Freeman, 33, resigned Wednesday to take a management position with a national nonprofit based in Tampa, Fla. He leaves City Hall July 14. Because the city had been through the hiring process just more than two years ago � and because Scoles ranked so highly at that time � Mayor Cathy Shaw decided to nominate Scoles for the position without opening the position to other candidates. Under the city charter, the mayor appoints candidates to fill vacancies with the consent of the council. Shaw called Monday�s meeting to give council members a chance to discuss whether they�re comfortable promoting Scoles without conducting a candidate search. "I�m really happy to select Greg," said council member Susan Reid. "I feel he�s the best candidate for the job." Councilman David Fine objected to the mayor�s decision to skip the formal search-and-interview process, but said he was pleased by the council�s discussion Monday. "This is not the mode of selection I should have preferred us to use," Fine said in a prepared statement. "But the City Council has nonetheless fully discharged its responsibility. It has made a considered, collegial decision." During the meeting, Fine said he�d hoped the council would identify the qualities it was seeking in a new administrator before deciding Scoles fit the bill. Still, he agreed to give Scoles his vote today . "He�s one hell of an excellent candidate," Fine said. "He�d make one hell of a great administrator." Other council members agreed that Scoles, who served five months as interim administrator before Freeman was hired, is up to the task of being the city�s top manager. "I�m very satisfied that Greg meets all of the criteria I have in my mind," said Councilman Don Laws. "He�s not perfect, but he�s very good." Shaw said she would not have asked the council to appoint an unknown candidate without going through an extensive selection process, or if she felt Scoles wasn�t the best person for the job. "The fact is, he�s an extraordinary candidate who already lives here in Ashland and works for us," Shaw said. Scoles is a Corvallis native with more than 20 years of experience in city administration, mostly in California. Before moving to Ashland, Scoles was community development director in Newberg from 1993 to 1996. He served as planning director in The Dalles from 1980 to 1982. Scoles holds a bachelor�s degree in speech communication from California State University- Long Beach, and a master�s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA