POST FALLS — John Beacham continues to climb the City of Post Falls ladder.

He has been named public works director and will take his oath of office at the City Council meeting on Oct. 2.

"The committee interviewed three external candidates and two internal candidates and it believed John was the best candidate for the position," said City Administrator Shelly Enderud. "We are excited to have John accept this position with the city."

Twenty-six applied for the job.

Beacham was hired as the city's environmental manager in 2012 before being promoted to utilities manager in 2016.

"Post Falls is at an interesting point in its life as a city," Beacham said. "Most of the initially constructed public infrastructure is still in good repair and there is an opportunity to get it right in terms of protecting that investment through maintenance and long-term planning efforts. I’m excited to be a part of that."

Beacham replaces Russ Connole, who accepted a job at a private consulting company in the Spokane area earlier this year.

Enderud said a decision on the utility manager position has not been made.

"There may be internal candidates or we may post the position externally," she said.

As public works director, Beacham, whose salary will be $98,040 per year, will oversee about 40 employees, including the utilities and maintenance managers. Those managers oversee seven total divisions, including Streets, Water, Water Reclamation, Fleet Services, Fleet Maintenance, Environmental and Surface Water.

The public works director reports to the city administrator.

The city is accepting applications for the community development positions through today. The position was reinstated into the city's budget that was recently approved.