The Prescott City Council announced Monday, February 12, 2024 they will hold a Special Executive Session to conduct two candidate interviews for the position of Interim City Manager. The two candidates were Jerene Watson, and Danny Sharp. This position became vacant when City Manager Katie Gregory resigned and received an undisclosed settlement, effective December 20, 2023.

When Council voted to interview for the City Manager Interim position, by hiring a firm to find candidates for the position, the resolution also included the additional consideration of the Prescott Parks and Recreations Manager, Joe Baynes. He is responsible for City Equipment Maintenance and a wide variety of other duties. Baynes is a 40-year resident of Prescott and has worked for the City of Prescott for more than 10 years.

On Tuesday, the Agenda for the Special Executive Session was amended at 8:30 AM to add a third candidate to interview: former Prescott City Manager Steve Norwood.

Norwood served as Prescott City Manager from July 2005 until January 2011. Since then, he has worked in Texas for a variety of cities and counties, including the City of Grand Prairie, El Paso County, and Round Rock. Norwood will be interviewed on February 14th at 4:00 PM during an Executive Session of the Prescott City Council.

Watson was hired in 2018 for the City Manager Interim position in Douglas, Arizona. After serving one year as Interim, she was promoted to the City Manager position. Watson will be interviewed at 2:00 PM during an Executive Session of the Prescott City Council.

Sharp is from Oro Valley, Arizona. He retired from the Oro Valley Police Department in 2020 as the Chief of Police after two decades with the department. In 2023, Danny ran for the office of Mayor in Oro Valley. He lost his bid in a close race to his opponent, Joe Winfield.

Any one of the three candidates listed above may be chosen to fill the Interim City Manager position, or Council may elect to tap Baynes for the position, who completed the interview process with city managerial staff in January.

The Wednesday interview schedule is as follows:

Jerene Watson | 2:00 pm
Danny Sharp | 3:00 pm
Steve Norwood | 4:00 pm

Since the meeting will be held during an Executive Session, there will be no public information during the Interview process. However, it is quite possible that they will convene into a Voting Council Meeting as Item 5 on the Agenda is, "ADJOURNMENT OF EXECUTIVE SESSION & RECONVENING OF A REGULAR PRESCOTT CITY COUNCIL MEETING FOR DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING MATTERS DISCUSSED IN EXECUTIVE SESSION."