- City council welcomes new city administrator
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WELCOME TO NEPHI • Mayor Mark Jones, right, and the rest of the city council welcomed Seth Atkinson, new city administrator, to Nephi. Atkinson is taking over for Randy McKnight who has decided to retire.
By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Seth Atkinson was recently selected as the new Nephi City Administrator and, on Tuesday he was officially appointed to that position. It was a special night, said Mark Jones, mayor. He and the council were pleased to welcome Atkinson.
"For sometime now, Randy McKnight, [who has been the city administrator], has been threatening to go fishing," said Jones. "I have worked diligently to keep him here."
Reluctantly, the council had begun their due diligence, said Jones. The council began looking for a new city administrator. They advertised for a replacement, accepted resumes and interviewed possible candidates.
"We feel that we have picked as good a replacement as was possible," said Jones.
He said that Atkinson had submitted an application and the city council had determined that the was the right person for the job.
"We would like to welcome Seth and his wife Melanie and their family to our city," said Jones.
Atkinson has been working in the public sector now for 12 years. He began his career working in Park City as a Budget Analyst in 2005.
In 2008 he moved to Oregon to take on the role of Finance Director/Assistant to the City Manager with the City of Sandy, a small city just southeast of the Portland metro area.
In 2013 he was appointed by the city council to the position of City Manager for the City of Sandy.
Atkinson has dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Finance and Economics and a Master of Science in Applied Economics, both from Utah State University.
He also served for several years in the Utah Army National Guard as a mechanic.
He has been married for 14 years and will soon be moving to Nephi with his wife and four children.
Jones said he was proposing that the city hire Atkinson for an orientation period that begins immediately and that on February 13, the end of the orientation period, Atkinson will be the new administrator.
"Randy, as usual, has willingly agreed to work through the transition period."
The date when that transition period would end and McKnight would officially retire had not yet been determined, said Jones.
McKnight has been working as city administrator for Nephi City since 1981.
McKnight received a bachelor's degree in history in 1975 and a master's degree in public administration in 1977, both from Brigham Young University.
McKnight worked as director of the Six County Economic Development District before being chosen as Nephi City administrator.
McKnight was honored at the Utah City Management Association' annual spring conference in 1992. The association selected McKnight as city administrator for the year for cities with populations under 10,000.
"We look forward to working with Seth in the future," said Jones.
"I have prepared a response," said Atkinson. "I would like to express my gratitude to all of you."
He said that he had almost been a babe in swaddling clothes in Payson Hospital, where he was born, when McKnight took the position of city administrator for Nephi.
He and his wife were looking forward to living in Nephi and to being in Utah once again.
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