After emerging from executive session of its Monday night meeting, the Safford City Council unanimously voted to offer the city manager position to interim City Manager David Kincaid and cancel the League of Arizona Cities and Towns solicitation for the position.

The city has been without a permanent city manager since Huey Long announced his retirement in June.

Kincaid began serving as the city’s interim manager Sept. 25. Safford Director of Management and Budget Don Knight served as the temporary manager until Kincaid was hired. Kincaid began his career in government as the community development and planning director for the city of Douglas in 1981. He went on to serve as Douglas’ city manager before leaving to become president of the Yuma Economic Corporation in 1988. Kincaid then served as the executive director of the Peoria Economic Development Corporation before starting his own consulting business, DJK Consulting LLC in 1996.

In October, Kincaid told the Courier he hoped to stay longer than the three- to six-month contract he signed as the interim manager.

“I’m ready to take on the challenge of what’s out there,” he said. “And I’d like to say, I don’t want to make it just a four-month deal.”

After receiving the council’s offer Monday night, Kincaid will negotiate payment terms with Human Resources Director Christine Fisher. If an agreement is reached, the proposal will return to the council for its approval during its December meeting.

Kincaid said he was pleased with the council’s decision and looks forward to the challenges of the position.

“It’s been a good eight weeks, and I think everything is working real well,” he said. “I look forward to continuing on.”

In other council news:

• The council received a library demonstration from Safford/Graham County librarian Jan Elliot.

Elliot demonstrated a service from the library called “Live Homework Help,” which features online tutors from tutor.com. The tutors are available from 2 p.m. to midnight and can be accessed through the library’s Web site.

Elliot said the library’s budget paid for half of the program’s cost with the other half being paid for by Superintendent of Schools Donna McGaughey and her office.

“You’ve got homework; we’ve got a solution,” she said.

• The council unanimously agreed to lease five new E-Z-Go golf carts for the city’s golf course. The new carts will make the course’s fleet uniform, and the old carts will be returned to Textron Financial.

• The council unanimously agreed to lease space on the Rocky Lake water tank to Alltel wireless to construct an antenna on top of the tank. The city will receive $300 per month in rent, and Alltel must incur all costs of removing the antenna when a new tank replaces the current one.

Councilor Ken Malloque asked if Alltel was going to be purchased by Verizon wireless. Kincaid said that was true and that Verizon will honor Alltel’s contractual agreements with the city in regards to the antenna.