Milton appoints Smedley interim city manager

By a unanimous vote Oct. 20 Milton's City Council appointed 31-year government veteran Mortimer Smedley its interim City Manager.

After the vote, Mayor Joe Lockwood said he was confident Smedley could handle Milton's notoriously tough political climate.

"I was speaking with Mort earlier and he said 'Growing up with a name like Mortimer made me tough and ready to handle anything,'" he said.

The semi-retired Smedley comes to Milton from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Ft. Pierce, Fla., where he has spent the past two years as 2nd mate on a research vessel.

Prior to that, though, Smedley spent 18 years as municipal manager of the borough of Lehighton, Pa., then nine as county administrator for Carbon County, which is also in Pennsylvania. He finished his career with a two-year stint in Maryland as county administrator for St. Mary's County, where he oversaw a more than $100 million budget and oversaw more than 600 employees.

He spent three years in the Navy and more than 30 in the Army Reserves. Smedley replaces acting City Manger Chris Lagerbloom, the city's Public Safety Director. Previous City Manger Billy Beckett left in mid-September citing tensions with council members.
- www.northfulton.com

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