“We have a great cross section of people,” he said, adding he also hopes for grass-roots support from around the borough.
Cushing said Tuesday Williams is trying to better understand the issues facing the lower Kenai Peninsula in recent years.
“He wants a broad southern-peninsula perspective,” Cushing said.
Williams was the mayor of Kenai during Cushing’s entire eight-year run as Homer’s mayor, and Cushing said the two have had a good working relationship. Cushing said much of the work by the transition team will be done in Soldotna over the next month to six weeks.
Other team members include Richard Brown, Charlie Weimer, Tom Irwin and MariKae Huckabay, all of Soldotna; Kenai residents Larry Porter, Scott Walden, Jim Butler and Bernice Caler; Doug Blossom of Ninilchik; Wayne Wong of Kasilof; Diana Zirul of Salamatof; James Mellott of Nikiski; Hugh Chumley of Sterling; Jim Carter of Kalifornsky Beach; and Jerry Dixon of Seward.
Former borough assembly member Tim Navarre will be the chief of staff and Mike Huckabay will assist the team as the information technology specialist. The team will spend this week interviewing borough government departments and providing a synopsis to the mayor. The team later will break into smaller work groups to review the budget and finances of the borough, emergency management, Central Emergency Services and sections of the school district. It is anticipated that other experienced officials from those areas will be added to help expedite the review. Some changes and possible consolidations are expected to occur over time after Williams takes office. The team’s job is to make recommendations concerning the changes. “The mayor will make the decisions,” Lancaster said. The transition team will help Williams hit the ground running when he takes office Monday. “We look forward to working as a team,” Lancaster said.
Chris Eshleman contributed to this story.
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