After more than a decade as the chief administrative officer for Powell River, B.C., Stan Westby will be bringing his experience to Whitehorse in the role of city manager.

The city announced last Friday afternoon that Westby has been hired for the job left vacant by Dennis Shewfelt, who retired in early June.

Senior official Rob Fendrick has been standing in as acting city manager.

"Stan brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge, and will prove instrumental in helping the City of Whitehorse work towards our community's goals,” Mayor Bev Buckway said.

Over the course of the hiring process, Westby showed a proven track record and a well-rounded knowledge of different city interests through dealing with each of the departments.

His time as CAO in Powell River, northwest of Vancouver, has given him experience across an entire community organization, Buckway said in an interview this morning.

Along with his role as CAO, Westby also serves as co-chair of the International Government Finance Officers Association conference.

As well, he is a member of the Infrastructure Canada National Asset Management Group and a member of the National Roundtable on Infrastructure.

He holds the designation of Chartered Accountant and has degrees in accounting and science from the University of British Columbia.

"I am honoured to be given the opportunity to serve the citizens of Whitehorse in the capacity of city manager and look forward to working alongside you to create a community of long-standing sustainability,” Westby said in a statement.

"My wife and I are eager to participate in this Wilderness City transition, and are sincerely thankful for being given the chance to be of service.”

Westby could not be reached for further comment this morning.

The new city manager, who will start his job on Aug. 13, beat out 30 other applicants for the job.

Of those, fewer than six were local, Buckway said, noting one application even came in from Ecuador.

"Certainly, there's a lot of interest in our community,” the mayor commented.

Applicants told officials they were attracted to the lifestyle the city offers, she added, as well as the fact Whitehorse is a capital city and in the midst of growth when many other jurisdictions are seeing major industries slow down or close.

Many also commented they like the fact the city plans for the future with initiatives like the Official Community Plan, a sustainability plan and so on.

"We've got a city that's in a good position,” Buckway said.

After the initial application submission, council came up with a shortlist of potential candidates and asked them to submit written answers to various questions on how they would handle situations in the role of city manager.

As Buckway noted, that gave council, which hires by consensus, an idea not only of an applicant's reaction to situations, but also whether they had done any research on Whitehorse.

From that, the list was brought down to three who were interviewed in person, with Westby eventually being hired.

"We're really looking forward to Mr. Westby coming to the city,” Buckway said.

She wouldn't comment on whether any of the final three were local candidates.