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Sunday, February 24, 2008

Marianna City Manager’s Chair Will Now Occupied By Jim Dean


By Sid Riley
Marianna now officially has a new City Manager. The position was vacated when Louie Harris left the position in early January to fill a new job with Chipola College. Since that time the city commissioners have been engaged in an extensive search for a qualified replacement. On Thursday, February 14 they unanimously agreed on a final selection after evaluating numerous candidates. They offered the position to James Dean, a Marianna resident. This week he officially announced to the Jackson County Times his acceptance of the offer.
Dean will officially take the chair and office reserved for the City Manager on March 24. This will occur after he has completed a thirty day notification period for his current employer, the USDA. He is the Area Director for the USDA at this time.
Jim was raised in Marianna, and attended Marianna High School where he graduated with the class of 1977. He is the son of "Sonny" and "Sammie" Dean of Marianna. His father worked as the Marianna Public Safety Director during the 1970’s, and on occasion filled in as interim City Manager. He later worked with the Sheriff’s Department as an investigator. It is appropriate that his son now is about to fill that same chair.
After graduation from high school, Jim attended Chipola for one year and then enlisted in the US Marine Corps.While serving in the Marine Corps he obtained his Bachelors degree from Florida A & M University. He then obtained his Masters degree in Business Administration from Webster College in St. Louis, Missouri.
Jim Dean is married to the former Tammy Johnson of Grand Ridge. They have three children, all of whom attended Marianna High School. A daughter Jessie, 23, lives in Marianna and works at "Talk of the Town". Another daughter, Lu Ann, 21, is attending the University of West Florida at Chipola, and their son Brian, 18, is a senior at Marianna High School.
" I am very excited about this opportunity to serve the people of Marianna," Dean stated. Two very important issues, acknowledged by the City Commission, that need to be addressed in the coming years are improvements to city infrastructure, and potential areas of annexation. I see this opportunity as both challenging and exciting."
We at the Jackson County Times welcome Jim to his new position, and wish him great success.

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