Acting Athens-Clarke County Manager Blaine Williams has been named the sole finalist in the search for a new manager of the county government by Mayor Nancy Denson, who will recommend Williams’ appointment to the post at the commission’s April 5 voting meeting.

According to a Wednesday afternoon news release from the county, a national search for a replacement for former Athens-Clarke County Manager Alan Reddish, who retired in February after 15 years in the job, attracted 17 candidates who met the minimum requirements for the position.

In announcing her selection of Williams as the sole finalist for the manager’s job, Denson said, “Not only are Blaine’s credentials exemplary, but so is his three-year work record with Athens-Clarke County. This was evident not only to me, but also to the commissioners who provided input to me on the candidates during the review process.”

Prior to being appointed acting manager, Williams was the county’s assistant manager for transportation and community development, a job he had held since January of 2013.

Williams holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Georgia and taught public administration at Berry College in Rome. Before joining the Athens-Clarke County government, Williams served as assistant county manager, and later as county manager, in Georgia’s Floyd County. Williams also previously worked as director of public administration for the Middle Georgia Regional Commission and as director of Downtown and River Development in Rome, Ga.

Since moving to Athens, Williams has graduated from the LEAD Athens and Leadership Georgia programs, as well as the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

If Denson’s recommendation to appoint Williams as county manager is approved by the commission at their April 5 meeting, his initial appointment would run through June 2017. Managers are normally appointed to two-year terms; ending Williams’ term in June of next year will put the manager’s post on the same schedule as other governmental appointees.

Recommending appointees for the positions of county manager, county attorney and the county’s internal auditor is among the powers delegated to Athens-Clarke County’s mayor under the terms of the unified government’s charter.