Mark McAvoy, who has held positions with city government offices in Texas for more than 20 years, is being hired as the new city administrator for Liberty Lake.
McAvoy’s selection was made official by the Liberty Lake City Council during the group’s regular meeting on Tuesday, July 5, voting 6-0 to approve his appointment by Mayor Cris Kaminskas to the city administrator position. He is expected to start his new duties in early August.
“I’m really excited about joining the team, plugging into the community, and becoming part of what makes Liberty Lake a great place, which is the residents that you have in town,” McAvoy said via Zoom during to City Council’s July 5 meeting.
Liberty Lake’s next city administrator has been working as the director of Planning and Data Analytics for the southwestern Dallas suburb of Fort Worth, Texas, since 2020.
Prior to that, he worked from 2017 to 2020 as the assistant city manager for Rowlett, Texas, a suburb to the northeast of Dallas with a current population of about 73,000 residents. McAvoy’s work in Rowlett included responsibilities with public safety, budget and finance operations, and labor relations.
McAvoy began his career in city government work at Houston, Texas, where he was hired as a management analyst during 2000. He transferred to the position of administration manager and chief of staff there in 2004, became division manager starting in 2008, and eventually worked as executive director for the Houston Permitting Center from 2010 to 2017. McAvoy’s roles during his Houston years included work in the areas of city finance, public works, human resources, and information technology.
“I really love solving local problems,” McAvoy said over Zoom from Texas during the July 5 City Council meeting. “I’m looking forward to bringing the skills that I have built, the experiences that I’ve gotten, and really plugging into the local team. It’s a great staff. I’ve had an opportunity to meet most everyone, and I’m thrilled about the exciting opportunity of coming and being a part of that, hitting the ground running and being a part of the community.”
He added: “You have a really strong strategic plan. I look forward and am excited about helping to lead the execution of that plan going into the future, and looking forward to building relationships with other community leaders to solve some local challenges.”
Although he’s had a stretch of more than 22 years working in Texas, McAvoy’s new position at Liberty Lake will be a return for him to the state of Washington. He was stationed in Tacoma while serving as a senior airman in the United States Air Force during 1992-1997, then worked as a controller for the First Presbyterian Church in Tacoma during 1997-1998.
The incoming city administrator for Liberty Lake earned his master of public administration degree at the University of Houston, completed his bachelor of business administration degree at the University of Washington, and studied data analytics at Cornell University. McAvoy also told the council that he will be moving to Washington with his wife, a son, and a daughter.
Liberty Lake’s previous city administrator, Katy Allen served for more than 9 ½ years before retiring at the end of January. Since that time, Liberty Lake’s Operations and Maintenance director Jen Camp has been filling those duties in the role of interim city administrator.
Original source can be found here.
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