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By Kathy Perrins
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Seth J. Perrins has been named Spanish Fork City’s new city manager due to the retirement of former Spanish Fork City Manager Dave Oyler on Feb. 5. Perrins has been working as Spanish Fork’s assistant city manager since August of 2004.
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Perrins grew up in Moses Lake, Wash., the son of Glenn and Kathy Perrins and one of seven children. He grew up active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was also active in sports, especially soccer, basketball and tennis. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout and worked very hard on a farm carrying irrigation pipes and harvesting hay.
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During his senior year in high school, he attended the local community college. He went to Ricks College (now Brigham Young University-Idaho) as a sophomore and graduated with an associate’s degree in science. He then served an LDS mission to Monterrey, Mexico. The summer after his mission, he worked at a local dairy farm, and he enjoyed that very much. Through all of these experiences, he developed a strong work ethic, leadership skills, commitment and endurance.
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He married Jill Buffington in 1998 while attending BYU and earning a bachelor degree in animal science. He continued on to earn his master’s degree in public administration at BYU. Just after receiving his diploma in 2002, even before he had time to take off his cap and gown, he received a call from Orem City. He had been working as an intern there, and they called to hire him as a full-time management analyst. He worked for Orem until he was hired as the assistant city manager of Spanish Fork in 2004.
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In the Spanish Fork City Council meeting on Jan. 19, Mayor Steve Leifson made a motion to hire Perrins as the new city manager of Spanish Fork. The motion was seconded and the vote was unanimous. Perrins was then asked to say a few words. He shared some thoughts about how his family feels about Spanish Fork.
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When he and his wife moved to Spanish Fork with their three daughters, they didn’t know what it would be like to live in this new community. After just four months, Seth asked Jill what she thought about living in Spanish Fork, and she responded that she already loved it. They feel like this is a great place to raise their family. The girls have been active is sports, dance, music and church activities.
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Jill told the council members how grateful she is that they have a chance to continue to raise their family in Spanish Fork. Seth expressed gratitude for the 11 years he had to work with Dave Oyler; he counts this experience as one of his greatest blessings.
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At the city council meeting, Councilman Mike Mendenhall said, “If you would say anything negative about Seth, you don’t know the man.”
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On Facebook, Steven Money wrote, “Spanish Fork is very lucky to have two great city managers. Dave Oyler was the best and now Seth Perrins will carry on and do a great job”.
