Arndt Chosen as Paducah City Manager

Effingham City Administrator Jim Arndt has been chosen as City Manager of Paducah, Kentucky.

Arndt said he was formally offered the job Tuesday evening.

Arndt and the other two finalists took part in a Meet and Greet Reception in Paducah Monday night. A fourth finalist withdrew from consideration over the weekend.

Arndt has been City Administrator in Effingham for eight years, overseeing the day-to-day operation of the city. Prior to that, Arndt was Administrator for the City of St. Clair, Missouri and the Village of Union City, Ohio. Arndt before that worked as a police officer in Mattoon.

32 candidates from 17 states applied for the Paducah job. The number was cut to 10 semifinalists, then to four finalists.

A consensus of the Paducah City Commission decided on Arndt for the position.

Reached for comment Tuesday evening, Effingham Mayor Jeff Bloemker said Arndt has done a good job and it will be sad to see him go, but said "we have assembled a great team at City Hall and they will be asked to step up and fill the breach until another City Administrator is selected." Bloemker said something like this is to be expected when you have talented people in an organization.

Arndt is Effingham's first City Administrator. 

Here's an interview our Greg Sapp conducted with Jim Arndt during the 7:30am News today on our stations...