Hiram officials Monday night made their move to bring a government leader from Polk County over to serve the city in its newly created city manager position.

City councilmen spent nearly an hour and 45 minutes discussing personnel issues in closed during Monday’s special called meeting. When they returned to open meeting, they voted unanimously to hire Robbie Rokovitz as city manager pending a successful execution of a contract between him and the city. Rokovitz was one of six candidates who were named earlier this month a finalist for the job.

Rokovitz currently serves as Cedartown’s city manager, a position he was named to in October 2010, according to Cedartown’s website. He has served in local government since 1993, when he began as a 911 communications officer with the city of Alpharetta. He has also served as Alpharetta’s assistant to the city administrator and was Holly Springs’ city manager before heading to Cedartown.

If hired, Rokovitz’s salary and benefits would come out of the city’s reserve funds until officials adopt a budget for fiscal year 2013. His hire would conclude the city’s six-month journey toward getting a city manager.

In February, the council approved a measure to amend the city charter to allow for the addition of a city manager to the payroll. The amendment to the city charter then was required to be submitted as a piece of legislation before state lawmakers—it went before the Georgia General Assembly and received its approval, and Gov. Nathan Deal signed the piece of legislation soon thereafter.

City leaders in June tapped Billy Beckett to serve as interim city manager until a permanent hire could be made. Beckett is set to stay on a few days into Rokovitz’s tenure as city manager, as the council during Monday’s meeting voted to extend his contract to Sept. 6 to allow for a transition period.

In other business, the council:

• Approved a contract with Darrin Keaton to serve as solicitor of the Municipal Court of Hiram.
• Approved a contract with Linda Caldwell to serve as indigent public defender.
• Authorized Hiram Police Chief Gary Yandura to transfer a patrol officer to the position of investigator and to recruit and hire a qualified applicant for the department’s vacant patrol officer position.

You can keep up with all the news in Dallas and Hiram by subscribing to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts, liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter. We also have apps for your Android or iPhone that can bring you news, our business listings, weather forecasts and more.