County head a finalist for San Juan islands job

Flathead County Administrator Mike Pence is one of six finalists for a county manager job on Lopez, Orcas and San Juan islands in Washington.

Pence, who has more than 32 years of city and county management experience, including eight years at the helm of Flathead County, said the manager job on the islands is an opportunity to return to the area where he and his wife raised their family.

“We spent 15 years on the Washington coast and four of our six kids graduated from high school there,” he said.

Pence was city manager for Ocean Shores, Wash., for several years and also spent five years as a commercial development manager for the Quinault Land and Timber Enterprise in Ocean Shores.

Pence has guided Flathead County through some of its busiest growth years and then through an economic downturn from which the area still is recovering.

During his tenure he has built up a 25 percent cash reserve for the county that will total about $11.7 million by the end of the fiscal year in June.

The administrator coordinates the day-to-day running of county business, and manages and prepares the annual budget.