LANDRUM – The City of Landrum will expect to see a new face in City Hall after city council members voted unanimously Thursday evening during a special meeting to hire Rich Caplan as the city’s new administrator.

The vote comes after the exit of Caitlin Cothran, former Landrum city administrator, earlier this month. Cothran served as city administrator since April 2013, and is now the assistant manager of collection programs for the South Carolina Municipal Association based in Columbia.

Caplan, a California native, brings with him assistant town manager and town manager experience from Simi Valley, Calif. and Vail, Colo.

Caplan also owns and operates Richard Caplan and Associates, a consulting firm based in Kansas City. He received his master’s degree in public policy/public administration (MPA) from the University of California Berkeley.

“The experience Rich brings with him is something we were looking for,” Briggs said at the meeting. “We had about 14 or 15 applications sent in to us from places like Michigan, but mostly from North and South Carolina. He has his own consulting business and we’re very excited to have Rich on board and look forward to a great relationship with him. It’s going to be good for the City of Landrum.”

Caplan said he has lived in places like Columbia, Charleston and Greenville in South Carolina and said when he came up to Landrum a few weeks ago to look around, he found the city to be special. Caplan currently lives in Greenville with his wife.

“This place is special and has a lot of character. The downtown area is strong with tourism and I want to make Landrum an even better place,” Caplan said. “This is a really charming city and I’m happy to be here. The Upstate area is beautiful and I’m happy I’ve gotten to meet a lot of the staff like Shelly and the city council members and they all seem conscientious and community-minded.”