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New management in Norway

Stoltman takes post after longtime city manager Anderson retires

DAN STOLTMAN, LEFT, is the new Norway city manager following the retirement Friday of Ray Anderson, right, after 22 1/2 years working for the city. Stoltman, who started a week ago, previously was town manager in Kremmling, Colorado. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo)

NORWAY — The city of Norway is under new management.

Ray Anderson officially retired Friday after 22 1/2 years with Norway’s city government, the past 21 as city manager. His successor, Dan Stoltman, had his first day on the job Monday.

Anderson had intended to retire in October but an initial search failed to find his replacement, so he stayed on while a second round was conducted. The city hired Stoltman, then town manager in Kremmling, Colorado, in February.

The 56-year-old Anderson said the time was right to step away from the job, noting his father died at age 55 so never got to enjoy retirement.

“I just wanted to stay flexible,” Anderson said.

He intends to do some consulting, he said, “take my experience in project management, policy — there’s several different areas where I can help out.”

Anderson started with the city in 1999 as director of the Norway Department of Power and Light, the community’s not-for-profit electric utility, then advanced to administrator 1 1/2 years later. Before that, the 1989 Michigan Technological University graduate worked on refinery shutdowns at Chicago Bridge & Iron Company.

Born and raised in Norway, Anderson said he will remain in the community with his wife, Andrea. They have two daughters: Christina, 23, like her dad an MTU graduate, now working for the Target Corp. in Minneapolis; and Anna, 21, enrolled in the arts program at the University of Michigan.

He also will remain available to his successor, who didn’t reach Norway until April 18. Stoltman arrived about 4:30 p.m. after 1,300 miles on the road and by 7 p.m. was attending his first city council meeting.

A native of Milford, Michigan, the 40-year-old Stoltman was town manager in Kremmling, a community west of Boulder, Colo., for three years. But he previously had been assistant city manager for four years in Washburn, Wis., in Bayfield County on Lake Superior.

Norway was an opportunity to be closer to family downstate and to friends they made in northern Wisconsin. The Upper Peninsula also offered the kind of country he and his girlfriend prefer, Stoltman said.

“It was a positive move for me,” he said.

He earned his undergraduate degree at Oakland University and then a master’s degree at Eastern Michigan University.

His initial impression of Norway is “it’s been great so far, welcoming … the community seems really solid, well planned.” He said he looks forward to learning about the community and finding a house in Norway.

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