The Keystone Town Council has landed on four finalists for a permanent town manager position that council members hope to fill by mid-April. 

During a Feb. 27 council meeting, officials released the names of four candidates that were whittled down from an initial list of 15. All four have a background in local government, and three of the finalists currently serve as leaders in municipalities across Colorado. 

The four finalists are John Crone, Robert Evans, Ashley Macdonald and James Mann. 

Crone is the current manager for the town of Grand Lake in Grand County, a position he has held since October 2019. Before that, he was the housing manager for the town of Winter Park. 

Evans is the current administrator for the city of Lamar in southeast Colorado, where he has served since November 2021. Before that, Evans worked as the manager for the city of Willis, Texas. 

Macdonald is the current manager for the town of Kremmling in Grand County, a position she has held for the past two years. Macdonald previously served as the deputy district manager for the Wellington Fire Protection District just north of Fort Collins. 

Mann has been a consultant for Colorado municipalities for the past 20 years and currently serves as the interim administrator for the town of Silt in Garfield County. Between 1993 and 2000, he served as administrator for the village of Slinger, Wisconsin. 

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Keystone’s interim town manager, Gary Martinez, said the town will host a meet-and-greet to give residents a chance to speak with the finalists before council members conduct formal interviews. 

“This is just really a chance to rub shoulders, to get to know the candidates,” Martinez said, adding that the candidates will speak briefly about their background before having a chance to meet with community members. 

The event will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6, at the Keystone Center, located at 1628 Saints John Road. The center also serves as the town hall. Macdonald, the town manager for Kremmling, will be the only finalist not present due to a conflict with her schedule, Martinez said. 

The following day, on March 7, council members will sit with finalists for interviews lasting around an hour each at the Keystone Center. All four candidates will be interviewed separately, and those interviews will be open to the public. The schedule for interviews will be published on Keystone.Colorado.gov. 

Since its first-ever meeting on Feb. 8, the town has continued to offer live streaming and recordings of its town council meetings. Mayor Ken Riley asked council members their thoughts on livestreaming the interviews on March 7. 

Council member Sarah Keel voiced support for offering a streaming option for the interviews, adding, “Why should it be any different than any of our other meetings?”

Following interviews on March 7, Riley said the council will consider the finalists over the coming weekend. During the next regular council meeting scheduled for March 12, Riley said the council will enter a closed-door executive session “to consider negotiation of the contract” before making a public announcement about who they’ve selected to be the next town manager. 

Martinez will continue in his interim role until the permanent town manager’s tenure begins, which Riley said should be around mid-April.