Adam Lenhard’s appointment as the Park City manager ended a decades-long run of the Marsac Building’s top staffer rising from within the ranks of the municipal government. Lenhard is the first person from outside the organization to become city manager since the 1980s. Toby Ross arrived a s the Park City manager in 1989. It was his first role with the municipal government, and he brought a background that included serving as part of  the management team of the city of San Luis Obispo, California. He remained with the Park City government through the 2002 Winter Olympics before leaving months after the Games for a city manager post in California. Ross became a highly influential figure during Park City’s blistering growth of the 1990s. Ross, the elected officials of the era and the municipal staffers he led attempted to balance the extraordinary development pressures against many Parkites’ desire to preserve land and protect the community’s small-town feel. The next three city managers — Tom Bakaly, Diane Foster and Matt Dias — were already staffers when they were promoted. The hirings were seen at least at some level as providing continuity for the municipal government. In an interview with The Park Record, Lenhard, who previously was the city manager in St. George, addressed his status as the first newcomer in the city manager’s office in Park City since 1989. He said he succeeded a city manager in St. George who had held the office for longer than 40 years and wielded broad clout. “It was my role as somebody who had not even been alive as long as he had been the St. George city manager to come into an organization as a brand new face,” Lenhard said. He said he had few connections to St. George when he became the city manager. “I heard 1,000 times how I had big shoes to fill. And it doesn’t bother me at all. I think we built a great team in St. George,” he said. Lenhard also noted the changes in the leadership of Park City that occurred in the months before he started. The city manager, meanwhile, spoke about his experience at the municipal level elsewhere in Utah. That, Lenhard said, is advantageous as he starts the work in Park City since he already has relationships that are established in the state. “In terms of coming in as an outsider … I’ve spent all of my professional career in Utah, and so there’s a lot of similarities. I can go to the state Legislature and I see a lot of people that I’ve known for years and years and years. If we need something from a state agency, for the most part I still have really great contacts and I know a lot of those people. I think that’s a benefit to the organization,” he said. Lenhard added: “Throughout my previous work experience, I’ve done most of what we’re doing here in Park City. Although, I mean, there are absolutely differences. Park City’s unique. I still have a lot to learn here about all the little local nuances. What makes Park City Park City. But at least in terms of having to learn how to be city manager, I don’t have to do that.” The post Park City manager is first Marsac Building outsider to hold the post since 1980s appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less