In a 3-2 decision Wednesday night, the Helena City Commission appointed Alana Lake as the next city manager.
Outgoing Mayor Wilmot Collins, Commissioner Sean Logan and Mayor-elect Emily Dean voted in support of Lake’s appointment, highlighting their confidence in her abilities to fulfill city executive duties. Lake is currently the executive director of the Montana Public Service Commission.
“ I’m confident Ms. Lake will be able to effectively step into the city manager role. One of the attributes, in addition to her management and leadership strengths that I was looking for and was very, very apparent in her interactions, was a strong sense of accountability,” Logan said during Wednesday’s meeting.
Commissioners Andy Shirtliff and Melinda Reed voted in opposition to hiring Lake.
“ My comments tonight reiterate the serious concerns I’ve had about the integrity and effectiveness of this selection process,” Reed said at the Wednesday night meeting. “The approach was fundamentally flawed and did not serve the best interest of our community. The commission failed to establish a shared vision or criteria for our new city manager. There was no collective discussion to guide our decision making.”
Lake joined the Montana Public Service Commission, the state board that regulates shareholder-owned utilities, as its executive director this March. According to a press release from the city, she has more than 10 years of experience in military and federal law enforcement, including work with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. She has led teams across the globe that involved criminal investigation, security, and counterintelligence operations, gaining experience with interagency coordination and planning.
“ As a veteran myself, I have firsthand knowledge the leadership training military service provides,” Collins said before voting Wednesday. “I can assure you Helena is in good hands. Helena is well-positioned to continue thriving.” Collins leaves his post as mayor at the end of this year.
Lake was among the top three finalist candidates the city commission chose earlier this month out of about 85 applicants. Each of the finalists underwent a public interview with the city commission and hosted a town hall to answer questions from members of the public prior to the commission’s vote.
The city’s pick for the management job upset some members of the public, who had voiced support for candidate Janet Hawkinson of Palisade, Colorado, over both Lake and the third finalist, Douglas Schultze, of Banning, California.
“ I just have to say that I’m just so disappointed,” Ashley Fischer, a member of the audience, told the commission Wednesday during a public comment period. “I’m so disappointed.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Caleb Wallace told the commission. “ … I think you guys need to at least clarify to us why Alana was chosen over the candidate that we did choose, Janet.”
The search to fill the position followed the announcement by current City Manager Tim Burton in September that he plans to retire at the end of this year. He had initially served as the city manager for Helena from 2000 to 2009, and returned to the job in 2022 to help the city address challenges with staff retention and recruitment, he previously told MTFP.
Burton’s retirement announcement prompted Collins to initiate the recruitment process to find Burton’s successor. That process, however, turned turbulent when some members of the public, including a commissioner, questioned the proposed timeline of the hiring process and public engagement opportunities.
That search also sparked a lawsuit brought against the city by a company owned by former city commissioner Andres Haladay, who alleged that a commission subcommittee had violated Montana’s open meeting laws when initiating the recruitment process.
The city has argued in court filings that the subcommittee, comprising City Mayor Wilmott Collins and Commissioner Sean Logan, had not violated any open meeting laws because the committee is not a “governmental body” or agency.
The commission, which both Collins and Shirtliff will vacate after the first of the year, continued with the recruitment process instead of what some members of the public argue should have been a delayed process until a new city commission is seated in January. Shirtliff ran a failed bid for mayor this fall.
Helena’s city manager position has been a contentious one to fill in recent years. The city has seen five city managers or interim city managers in the last six years after long-time manager Ron Alles retired in 2018 following nearly 28 years in the role.
The city commission then hired Ana Cortez as the next city manager in 2019, but her time was short-lived after the commission terminated her contract in February 2020 after Cortez clashed with city staff. Though some on the commission at the time praised Cortez’s work, she was twice placed on administrative leave and her terminated contract ended up costing the city nearly $164,000.
Before becoming a commissioner, Reed filled the city manager role as interim in early 2020 during the recruitment period before the city hired Rachel Harlow-Schalk later that year, in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harlow-Schalk resigned a year and a half later after clashing with the city commission. ormer city attorney Thomas Jodoin briefly stepped in as interim when Harlow-Schalk quit.
While contract negotiations are still pending, the city manager position was advertised with a salary range between $175,000 to $205,000. Lake is expected to begin her role as the city manager in the new year.
Top photo courtesy of Helena Independent Record.
This story was corrected Dec. 18, 2025, to correct the timeline of former city managers.
This story was corrected Dec. 19, 2025, to correct the pay range for the city manager position.
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