Unalaska’s city manager is slated to keep his position for at least three more years.
The Unalaska City Council approved Bil Homka’s request to extend his term at their May 27 meeting. Homka asked for a three-year contract, with two single-year extensions. That means the approved agreement could last a total of five years.
One of Homka’s goals is maintaining stability in the city manager role, which has had a high turnover rate in recent years. Homka said if he stays for the duration of the new contract and its extensions, he would have one of the longest Unalaska city manager tenures in recent history.
At the Tuesday meeting, council member Thom Bell said stability is a good thing, and that he looks forward to continuing to work with Homka.
Homka told KUCB he’s proud of the work his team has done and that they’re helping get the community “back on track.”
“I think we've come a long way in just a few short years with this team that I have in place,” he said.
Homka wants to build trust in the city manager role, and hopes to do that in part by sharing up-to-date, accessible financial information with elected officials. His team is considering creating a dashboard that lays out funding information for the city council more succinctly than line item budget reports do.
He’s also focused on keeping city projects like road paving and environmental remediation economically viable. He said his team is working on a comprehensive plan this summer for those projects, of which eight proposals have been submitted so far.
Council members authorized the mayor to negotiate a contract with Homka after an early April executive session, which was closed to the public.
Homka’s contract includes a $220,000 annual salary plus benefits. A typo putting the salary $5,000 higher than that will be corrected before the contract goes into effect, city officials said.
Before signing on as city manager in 2023, Homka served as Unalaska’s assistant city manager and as planning director. He’s been with the city for nearly a decade, since 2017. Before coming to Unalaska, he held other local government and consulting roles in New Mexico and Ohio.
