ROYAL CITY - When Greg Pike moved to his wife Erin Allred's home town of Royal City a couple of years ago, he unknowingly put himself in the path of the type of job for which he had hoped.

Pike, 39, became the Royal City finance director on Aug. 1. Kelly Collins, who is moving away, will remain on the city's payroll until Sept. 1 as a mentor for Pike.

This will be Pike's first shot at city administration. He was working in Othello for the public accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen.

"I worked mainly on tax and financial statement preparation," he said. "I was planning on staying there for several years, but when the opportunity came to stay in Royal City and work here I couldn't resist."

Previously, the Pikes lived in Spokane for a short time while Greg worked for Sterling Savings Bank as a Treasury Analyst. Prior to that, they lived in Denver, where Greg studied for his Master's Degree in Finance from the University of Denver.

Erin, daughter of Jerry and Chriss Allred, grew up here. Most of her family still lives here. However, the move back home was a "culture shock" for her husband.

"I grew up in the suburbs of Salt Lake City. I lived in Denver for a short time as well," he said. "I like Royal City a lot. It has grown on me since we first moved up here, especially since I have gotten to know more and more people here. We would like to stay here long-term."

Pike saw accounting firm work as somewhat limiting. In this job he gets a mixture of accounting and finance.

"That appeals to me," he said. "It is very different. With the PA firm, I spent most of my time preparing tax returns. My responsibilities with Royal City are much more broad."