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Dayton city manager Young up for North Carolina job

Staff photo by Teesha McClam Dayton City Manager Rashad Young

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Photos: Dayton City Manager Rashad Young

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By Joanne Huist Smith, Staff Writer Updated 12:17 AM Friday, August 28, 2009

DAYTON — The city of Dayton could be losing its top executive to Greensboro, N.C.

The Greensboro City Council will hold a special meeting at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, to consider hiring Dayton’s City Manager Rashad Young as their own.

Young, on Thursday, Aug. 27, confirmed he had been offered the job.

“I can confirm that I have been in discussions with officials from the city of Greensboro, North Carolina, regarding their vacant city manager position. At this time, I have received a tentative job offer, pending final approval by the Greensboro City Council early next week,” Young said. “Once a final decision has been approved by the Greensboro City Council, I will make a full public statement and answer additional questions.”

Greensboro is located in central North Carolina and has a population of about 258,671, compared with Dayton’s 156,000.

Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin said she would not comment on Young’s departure until she knows it is certain. The mayor has long been a supporter of Young, having called his acceptance of the Dayton city manager’s job as a “celebration of youth.” On Dec. 1, 2006, at age 30, Young was sworn in as Dayton’s 16th and youngest city manager.

If Young takes the job, he will be the second administrator to leave Dayton this year. Jane Howington, Dayton’s former assistant city manager for operations, resigned in July to take a job in Kalispell, Montana.

Gary Leitzell, candidate for Dayton mayor, said Thursday, “I wish (Young) well. It’s time for new leadership across the board.”

Young would be replacing former Greensboro City Manager Mitch Johnson, whom the City Council fired in March, according to the Greensboro News-Record. The city got more than 100 applicants for the job.

Young, now 33, is a native of Dayton and a graduate of the University of Dayton. He began working in City Hall in 1994 as part of a program to help develop local youth interested in government service. He held a number of positions in Dayton between 1994 and 2002 including assistant to the city manager, deputy director of the Department of Information and Technology Services and acting assistant city manager.

In June 2002, Young left Dayton to become an assistant city manager in Cincinnati. He returned three years later to become an assistant city manager here.

He became Dayton’s youngest city manager in 2006 at the age of 30.

Young stands to earn considerably more money in Greensboro, even if his salary is at the low end of the city council’s pay scale.

Young currently earns $145,766 a year. Colin-Baenziner & Associates, the headhunter used by Greensboro to recruit city manager candidates, listed on its web site that the starting salary for the job is between $170,000 and $220,000.

“All in all, this job is not for the shy, faint of heart or anyone with weak knees. Rather Greensboro wants and needs a strong leader who can take the bull by the horns and make things happen,” the call for applicants stated.

Dayton City Commissioner Joey Williams, said he rates Young’s job performance high, especially given the circumstances.

“I think Rashad has held this position in unprecedented times in the world, certainly in Dayton and the Midwest,” Williams said. “I have been very pleased with the way he has handled himself.”

City Commissioner Matt Joseph said that with Dayton’s strong city manager form of government, a steady churn in administrators is expected. He says there will not be a leadership gap if Young leaves.

“The City Commission is still here. We’ll hire someone else to do the job, if Rashad leaves,” Joseph said. “He’s done a good job in some very bad times.”

Joseph said it’s a positive reflection on the city to have other municipalities recruit “our talent.”

“If they play well, somebody from a bigger team is going to grab them,” Joseph said.

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