The city has hired a new director of public works after a six-month search.

Tom Cohenour will step into the position in the next few weeks. Most recently, he directed the department of public works in South St. Paul, Minn. But he’s worked in Alaska before, as DPW director in Cordova and Palmer.

City human resources director Kelly Stiles says that experience will be an asset in Unalaska.

"[Cohenour] also worked at Palmer Station Antarctica, so he’s used to extreme climates, working on extreme construction projects -- not that we have extreme, but working in different climates on paving and whatnot," she says. "He’s got experience with that."

On top of cold-weather construction, Stiles says Cohenour has experience with water and wastewater projects, like the ones currently going on in Unalaska.

His academic background is in construction and management instead of engineering, which had been originally been a priority for the city.

"When we were searching through résumés, we were finding a lot of candidates with a lot of technical background that didn’t always have the people background of the managing staff and whatnot that we really needed," Stiles says.

She says Cohenour had the best mix of management skills and practical experience among the five candidates for the job. His starting salary will be about $102,000. He’ll be an at-will employee, meaning he’s not on a contract.

His predecessor, Nancy Peterson-Hawley, stepped down from the DPW post in January. City manager Chris Hladick has been acting director ever since.

Now, Stiles says the city will turn its focus to two major openings in the Department of Parks, Culture, and Recreation. Unalaska needs a new head librarian and a new pool manager. PCR staff will begin reviewing applications this week from internal and external candidates.