Centralia police chief among finalists for Chehalis city manager  job

The City of Chehalis on Friday announced three finalists for the city manager position being vacated by Jill Anderson, who is retiring. 

They finalists are Centralia Police Chief Stacy Denham, former Woodland City Administrator Peter Boyce and former Puyallup Development and Permitting Services Director Jeffrey Wilson.

Chehalis residents are invited to attend a reception next week to meet with the candidates after Anderson’s retirement announcement late last year. 

The reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 4, at the Virgil R. Lee community building located at 221 SW 13th St. in Chehalis, according to a City of Chehalis news release. 

“The reception will be an opportunity for the community to get to know the prospective candidates,” the release stated. 

Anderson spent 33 years working in civil service in one form or another, starting with an internship with the City of Norwalk followed by management jobs in the cities of Seaside and Riverbank in California. 

After former Chehalis City Manager Merlin MacReynold retired in late 2016, Anderson came to Chehalis as the new city manager. Now 60, Anderson plans on enjoying her retirement and remaining in Chehalis with her husband, who is also retired.

Below is information provided by the City of Chehalis on each of the city manager finalists. Interviews will be conducted for all three candidates on Friday, April 5 : 

• Peter Boyce has almost 25 years of experience in city and county government. He was most recently city administrator for the City of Woodland, where he served for over seven years. Prior to that, he was with the City of Gladstone, Oregon, from 2008 to 2015, where he first served as assistant city administrator, then city administrator for over six years. Boyce was county administrator for Wabasha County, Minnesota, and he served Anaconda and Deer Lodge in Montana, first as clerk and recorder, and then as chief executive officer. He has a bachelor's degree in technology and business development from Montana Technological University.
• Stacy Denham has over 30 years of law enforcement experience. He has been with the Centralia Police Department since 2006 when he started as a police officer and progressed through the ranks, serving as a sergeant, commander and deputy chief, and he has been chief of police since 2020. Prior to joining the Centralia Police Department, he was a police officer for Chehalis from 1994 to 2006. Denham has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and public administration from Liberty University and an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Centralia College. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. 

• Jeffrey Wilson was most recently development and permitting services director for the City of Puyallup, a position he held for over three years. Prior to that, his public sector experience included serving as community development director for the City of DuPont, senior managing director with the Washington state Department of Commerce, community development director for Chelan County, and he was a council member for the City of Edmonds from 2001 to 2005. Wilson also served in planning positions for four Washington cities early in his career, starting in 1981. He has a bachelor’s degree in urban planning from the University of Washington.