By Jen Lebron Kuhney, The Republic | azcentral.com
The average tenure of a city manager in the United States is just more than seven years, but hardly any West Valley cities have top administrators who meet that mark.
Surprise had celebrated its three-year anniversary with current City Manager Chris Hillman in March only to see him named as the top candidate for the post in Irving, Texas, last month.
Hillman had been the city’s longest-serving city manager since 2008, but he is following a pattern in the West Valley of city managers leaving well before hitting the nationwide average calculated by the International City/County Management Association.
Just three cities — Litchfield Park, Peoria and Tolleson — have had no city-manager turnover in the past five years. And only Litchfield Park has a city manager who has been in his position for nearly a decade.
