Administrator gets City Council farewell

Begins Lakemoor position Monday

It was a bittersweet parting for City Administrator David Alarcon at Thursday night's City Council meeting.

Before a chamber packed with friends and supporters, Alarcon said goodbye to the community that honored his four years of service as Park City's first city administrator, and five previous years on the city's police force as community service officer.

On Monday, he will become the first administrator of the village of Lakemoor. Both Park City and Lakemoor are similar in size and share many similar challenges, Alarcon said, and he looks forward to his new responsibilities.

Mayor Steve Pannell said Alarcon's departure is a big loss for Park City. Both Pannell and Alarcon acknowledged that an impasse in negotiating a satisfactory renewal of his employment contract with the City Council led to Alarcon's decision to leave.

"David did a phenomenal job here. He was involved in just about every aspect of our community life on a 24/7 basis. He will be extremely difficult to replace," Pannell said.

The mayor said that under the council's current 90-day spending freeze, it is unlikely that a replacement for Alarcon's job will be filled soon.

Pannell told the council that as a small city with limited staff personnel this means aldermen will have to step up and assume more responsibilities.

"We must be prepared to respond to a residents' raw sewage backup at 2 o'clock in the morning, just as Mr. Alarcon and I have done," he said.

Park City