On Tuesday night, after the city council meeting and 30-minute executive session, members unanimously named Ashley Combs as city manager.
Combs and Nathan Cahall, the city’s two assistant managers, took turns serving as acting city managers after Paul Lolli’s abrupt retirement in July 2024.
Cahall served as acting city manager for five months and Combs for just over two months as council evaluated their performances before deciding whether to conduct a national, or at least a regional, search.
Instead, council decided to stay in-house.
Mayor Elizabeth Slamka said naming Combs “makes since for Middletown.”
Lolli called Combs the “right person, right now, right here.”
He said her institutional knowledge, communication skills and loyalty to the city made her the “most qualified person” for the job,
Combs, who has worked for the city for nine years in various leadership positions called being named city manager “truly an honor. I love my time with the city of Middletown. This next chapter is truly exciting.“
The city is still finalizing her salary and length of her contract, Lolli said.
Combs talked about the many major projects in the city, from the redevelopment of the Towne Mall, the former Middletown Paperboard site on Ohio 4, the Renaissance Pointe project in the East End, and the downtown refresh.
“We got a lot of irons in the fire and we’re excited for the future,” she said.
Combs, 38, said during her career with the city she has served with five city managers. She doesn’t plan to use this promotion as a stepping stone, she said.
“I love the city of Middletown,” she said. “My heart is here. The city of Middletown has been nothing but good for me and my career.”
It’s unclear what the announcement means for Cahall and his career with the city. But Combs said she wants him to remain assistant city manager.
“We work very well together,” she said.
In the last six years, Middletown has had city managers who were fired, signed separation agreements or resigned.
Doug Adkins, who served as city manager for five years, was removed as city manager by council on Dec. 17, 2019.
Then Susan Cohen was named acting city manager. She then left the city for a leadership position in Union Twp.
In March 2022, Jim Palenick, who served as city manager for less than two years, and the council signed a mutual separation agreement ending his tenure as the city’s leader and setting the stage for Lolli, then the fire chief, to take the reigns.
After retirement from the city manager position, Lolli was appointed in October to a vacant council seat following the resignation of Zack Ferrell, who moved out of the city.
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