Hladick departed Unalaska in mid-March for his new job as Gov. Bill Walker's commerce commissioner. (Annie Ropeik/KUCB)

For the first time in 14 years, Unalaska is between city managers.

Former manager Chris Hladick left for Juneau this past weekend to start his new job as the Alaska’s commissioner of commerce, community and economic development.

Hladick was Unalaska’s longest-serving manager by a long shot -- before him, the record stood at around six years. But after stints as a manager in Dillingham and Galena, Hladick says he was eager to work in Unalaska’s more active economy.  

"You know when you walk into a town whether something’s going on or not, and this is a place where there’s a lot of type-A personalities and people that like to get stuff done," Hladick says. "I kind of thrive in that atmosphere."

Hladick planned to retire in Unalaska. His family put down roots in the community as soon as they arrived.

"We immediately bought a house, which you’re never supposed to do as a city manager," Hladick says, since at the time, managers in rural Alaska towns usually didn’t last longer than a year or two.

But Hladick says he got along well with his staff in Unalaska -- and with the city councilors he was advising.

Mayor Shirley Marquardt was one of them when Hladick first started. She feels he was successful because he never went too far in telling council how to vote.

"There were times, I think, that we would have liked [him] to. 'What do you think -- what should we do?'" Marquardt said. "And he’s always said, 'No, I am not elected -- that is not my role. My role is to bring the best information I can, and give options.' And he would make recommendations, too, but it’s always been up to the council."

Hladick also let councilors raise questions and hash out concerns with him directly before almost every meeting. Longtime councilor Roger Rowland says Hladick always had an open-door policy.

"Sometimes I would tell him I don’t like this or that, I’m going to bring this up or bring that up," Rowland says. "Other times he would answer my questions and tell me why certain things were there, and would calm me down to where I didn’t have to go jump up and down and make a fool out of myself at a meeting."

It helped that Hladick and councilors were working off a set to-do list -- laid out in the 2011 Capital and Major Maintenance Plan, which established city priorities through this fiscal year. It focused largely on infrastructure, like the powerhouse, water system, roads and landfill, which all got upgrades on Hladick’s watch.

Other projects he handled were more reactive -- like a costly, federally mandated overhaul for the wastewater treatment plant that’s still not complete. Still others -- like a proposed geothermal project at Makushin Volcano -- he deemed too expensive to carry out.

Despite some bumps along the way, councilor Tom Enlow says Hladick’s long-term planning helped create stability for the city -- and its local industry, like UniSea, where Enlow is president.

"I think it’s critical, especially when you’re dealing with public funding ... to have transparency as to where those funds are going to be earmarked for," Enlow says. "And I always felt very comfortable about his level of forecasting, if you will, of where the priorities of public expenditures needed to take place."

That role won’t change much as Hladick takes up economic development for cities, towns and villages across the state. But he is leaving some unfinished business behind in Unalaska -- including his pet nuisance, the derelict WWII torpedo building. The city is still working on getting federal approvals to tear it down.

There’s also Unalaska’s perennial housing shortage. But planning director Erin Reinders says she’s in a good place to move forward on that issue, thanks in part to work Hladick helped spearhead near the end of his tenure.

"We know what lots are out there that are vacant. We have the housing plan that documents however many units are needed … and we can kind of start reporting that. And that is tangible. People feel that, people see that around town," Reinders says. "So I think that’s getting better, and as we’ve defined our goals a little bit more, I think we’ll be able to show what we’re doing and how we’re progressing."

The housing issue isn’t the only thing Reinders has inherited from Hladick – she’s filling in as acting city manager right now. The assistant manager and police chief are first in line for that spot, but they're both out of town.

So Reinders will do the job until Unalaska’s new interim manager, Don Moore, arrives later this week. He’s expected to stay for up to six months while the mayor, staff and councilors search for a permanent replacement -- one they hope can stay as long as Hladick did.