(Courtesy: City of Unalaska)

Update, 6 p.m. Wednesday: Unalaska city manager Chris Hladick says he’s excited to bring a rural perspective to the governor's cabinet in his new role as state commerce commissioner.

The appointment was announced Tuesday. Hladick says he wasn’t looking for a new job, and was shocked to get the call to lead the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development.

Hladick was originally asked to interview as Department of Transportation commissioner. He didn’t get that job -- but the governor offered him Commerce instead, “saying that my credentials fit that position better anyway,” Hladick says.

Despite a long history in local government, Hladick says he never saw his career reaching the state level.

“I would have been very happy to retire here in Unalaska, and would have been very proud of the work that I’ve done, and my staff has done,” he says. 

He plans to stay involved in unfinished projects like the new wastewater treatment plant for as long as he can.

But he says he’ll need to move to Juneau by mid-March. His wife, school nurse Wendy Hladick, will finish out the school year in Unalaska. Hladick isn’t sure if they’ll settle in Anchorage or Juneau -- he’ll be working in both cities. And he says it’ll be hard to say goodbye to Unalaska. 

“We both really like it here a lot. We’ve played music here, we’ve got a lot of good friends here, so it’ll be bittersweet when we leave,” he says. “[But] it’s an opportunity for me that only comes once in a lifetime.”

Hladick’s new department covers a huge swath of state government -- from the railroad system to legal marijuana. He’ll have to carry out whatever regulations legislators set for the drug.

“We’re going to weed through those issues, no pun intended,” he says.

Hladick will also be responsible for wrangling consumer energy projects across all state agencies -- a new part of his job description announced last week. Hladick says he’ll be looking for new technologies to bring down fuel costs in the Interior and rural villages.

Update, 5 p.m. Tuesday: After 14 years as Unalaska’s city manager, Chris Hladick is leaving to join the cabinet of Gov. Bill Walker.

Hladick was appointed as the new commissioner for the department of commerce, community and economic development on Tuesday. 

It’s a wide-ranging job that regulates everything from alcohol -- and now, legal marijuana -- to consumer energy projects.

Hladick was traveling Tuesday afternoon and wasn’t immediately available for comment. But the governor’s spokesperson Katie Marquette says Hladick was recruited for the position.

"The governor sought out Chris because of his track record in both Unalaska and then other rural communities that he’s worked," Marquette says. "He was very impressed by the tremendous amount of infrastructure that Chris has helped put into place in Unalaska."

In the past, Hladick was a city manager in Dillingham and Galena. He’s overseen major capital projects in Unalaska, ranging from a new boat harbor to a new powerhouse. Hladick also worked on a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency for a new wastewater treatment plant.

That’s left a significant mark on the town, says Unalaska Mayor Shirley Marquardt. And Hladick made a big impression with the now-governor when he traveled to Unalaska for a campaign visit last fall.

"[Hladick] is very well known around the state as not only being a successful manager, but he’s a very skilled administrator and he’s a talented natural leader. And that’s tough to find in one package," Marquardt says. "And when you do, people look for you, they find you and they want you on their team, and that’s what the governor did."

Hladick wasn’t looking for a new job, according to the mayor, but he did disclose that the governor was interested in bringing him on board earlier this month.

"I think you put a challenge in front of Chris Hladick, and he just can’t help but want to solve it," Marquardt says. "Which is a really nice change, because a lot of people spend a lot of time sitting around talking about the problem over and over and over, and when you find that person that says, 'I don’t want to talk about the problem; we know what the problem is, I want to talk about solutions,' then you’ve got something."

She says it’s not clear when Hladick will vacate his job in Unalaska, or who his replacement might be.