West Jordan appoints interim city manager

The West Jordan City Council appointed David R. Brickey to serve as interim city manager in a unanimous vote Wednesday evening.

Brickey, who had worked for West Jordan as its attorney, takes over for Mark Palesh, who on July 14 announced his retirement.

Brickey's city manager responsibilities began Wednesday, according to spokeswoman Kim Wells.

The council also unanimously approved Russ Wall to the position of deputy city manager, a role it had been trying to fill since April, a city news release stated.

It hasn't been determined which of the three deputy city attorneys will be city attorney after Brickey, who will remain available to advise the attorney's office, Wells said.

Palesh came out of retirement to take over as city manager in 2015. Earlier this year, he became the fifth city manager to retire in six years. He will take an advisory role for a few months during the transition, Wells said.

Brickey will keep the title of interim city manager through at least the end of the year. The city is holding elections for three positions on the City Council, Wells said, so it will wait until a new council is seated in January to choose a permanent city manager.

"With such a significant election underway, it seemed better to just wait until a new council body seated and let them make that decision," Wells said.

Before that, though, the position of city manager could be eliminated altogether.

A resident committee is studying a consideration to change West Jordan's form of government from a council-manager model to a council-mayor one.

The committee is scheduled to report to the City Council on Aug. 9. Depending on its recommendation, voters may have the opportunity to approve the new government structure in November.

If that change is made, the City Council would appoint a city administrator rather than hiring a city manager.

"We're in a good position to see what happens with the election and see what recommendations this ad hoc committee has for the form of government," Wells said. "So stay tuned."