Suffolk City Council appointed Kevin Hughes as city manager on Wednesday after a half-year trial run.
Hughes became the city’s interim last year after Al Moor retired at the end of July. Similar to Hughes, Moor also served on an interim basis for about half a year before council appointed him in 2021.
Mayor Mike Duman drew on his experience in sales to congratulate Hughes.
“The best salesmen are the ones that believe in their product,” he said. “And that’s one thing I noticed about Kevin: He loved his product. His product was the city of Suffolk.”
Hughes will earn $245,000 a year, Duman said. It’s the lowest in Hampton Roads for a top-level administrator.
Suffolk received 100 applications for the position, though only 39 met the minimum requirements for the job.
Ebony Wright, who represents the Sleepy Hole Borough, created a seven-point rubric to evaluate candidates. It scored them on education, budget management, the size of the localities they previously served in and how prominent they were in their region.
Hughes ranked among the top four. Wright said his long service with the city made him stand out from the rest.
“We decided that, because he has been here long and he did a very good job in the interim process, and he already ranked amongst the highest, that that was the best way for us to go,” Wright said after the meeting. “I’m proud of him and I’m glad and look forward to working with him as our city manager.”
Hughes has worked for Suffolk for more than 20 years. He joined the economic development department in 2005. He became its director in 2010. In 2020, Hughes became acting deputy city manager and assumed the full title in 2021.
