by Clara McMichael
James Nichols - the candidate tapped as the new city manager for Des Moines - wrapped up a short-lived experience earlier this year in a similar position for Douglas County, Nevada.

Douglas County has marked similarities to Des Moines. It is a community of fewer than 50,000 people on the shores of Lake Tahoe - like Des Moines’ own waterfront location on Puget Sound. The county, like Des Moines, has a signifiant population over the age of 65, and the average income of both communities is approximately $58,000.

In August 2014, Nichols came from a position as assistant city manager in Midland, Texas, and began working for Douglas County under a three-year contract. But after only sixteen months of employment, Nichols left the County on January 29th of this year.

According to the Record-Courier - a newspaper in Douglas County - a point of contention upon Nichol’s hiring by the county was his salary. In Midland, Nichols received approximately $174,000 per year. In Douglas County, he requested $180,000. Nichols and the County settled on $172,000.

Douglas County Commissioner Greg Lynn said that the salary amount correlated with high housing prices in the region, but many citizens and county employees were shocked by this figure, particularly because of budget cuts faced by the county in the 2010-2011 fiscal year, when the Douglas County Employees Association took a 5 percent cut to employee salaries.

“The citizenry (of Douglas County) is highly conservative and violently anti-tax,” Lynn said. “We are always strapped for revenue when we’re trying to recruit employees at any level, particularly at the top level.”

Once hired, Nichols planned to stay in Douglas County. In an interview with the Record-Courier, he told the newspaper that “if hired then it will be the final stop in my career.”

But the job in Douglas County wasn’t what Nichols expected.

“This has been the most challenging period of my entire career,” Nichols said in an interview with the Record-Courier last November. “I’ve routinely not met expectations of the entire board. I may have met expectations of individual board members, but I haven’t met the five sets of divergent expectations on a day-to-day basis.”

Specific issues in Douglas County included Nichols’ management of flooding in the area and, according to Lynn, Nichols’ handling of the Douglas County’s Connectivity initiative. The initiative, already underway when Nichols arrived, was intended to recommend projects and funding sources to improve infrastructure.

Ultimately, Nichols and the Douglas County commissioners mutually agreed that Nichols would voluntarily leave his position in the county before his contract expired. But some of the commissioners, including Lynn, were surprised by his early departure.

“Jim, I think, was frustrated that he wasn’t going to establish the team that he had in mind (between the commissioners),” Lynn said.

Upon leaving, Nichols received severance pay of $115,346. This included $86,000, which was six months base salary, $9,784 for accrued and unused sick leave, and $19,652 for accrued annual leave. He also received six months’ worth of health insurance benefits. This severance package was granted to Nichols on the condition that he agreed not to pursue any claims against the county.

Nichols has worked in local government since 1997. He began his career working in Chehalis as a project engineer, and has worked in the city governments of Midland, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Goodyear, Arizona and Olympia, Washington. He has a public management certificate from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Connecticut and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Northwestern University. He is also an International City/County Management Association credentialed manager.

After leaving Douglas County, Nichols spent a few months pursuing job openings in Englewood and Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

On July 28th, after a nationwide search for city manager conducted for the City of Des Moines by the company Strategic Government Resources (SGR), Nichols was offered the job as city manager of Des Moines. He is set to replace the current City Manager Tony Piasecki, who has worked with the city for 20 years.

“I believe that (Nichols) is going to be a great asset to the community,” Council Member Dave Kaplan said at the city council meeting.

In terms of salary, Piasecki receives a yearly salary of $153,900. Officials within the city of Des Moines say they are not at liberty to discuss the amount they are negotiating with Nichols - they are concerned that it may affect the negotiation process.

When the Westside Weekly attempted to reach Nichols for comment, his contact information was not available from either the City of Des Moines or SGR, and SGR did not return multiple calls.

Des Moines Mayor Matt Pina did not return a call requesting comment.