New Clear Creek County Administrator Tom Breslin had his first day on the job on Monday and brings a wealth of experience to the post.

Breslin, a military veteran, former New York City firefighter, lawyer and public works director for Keystone Resort, was officially hired in early December to replace Selby Myers. Myers stepped down in October to pursue other interests.

Before Myers was hired in 2007, the county had gone without the position for nearly 10 years.

According to Kevin O’Malley, chairman of the Clear Creek County Board of Commissioners, Breslin was selected from more than 150 applicants, and of those, was one of three finalists.

O’Malley said the finalists included a group with very diverse backgrounds.

“One finalist was a county administrator from a different state who had a lot of experience in county administration; the other finalist was former military who had done a lot of management consulting,” O’Malley said.

In the end, O’Malley said, the decision to hire Breslin came down to his vast experience.

“He had just a great combination of experiences,” O’Malley said. “... One of the things that struck us is, there’s no question this guy is a hard worker and he’s capable of accomplishing a number of things, because through his history he’s always been doing more than one thing at one time and doing them successfully.”

O’Malley said the county administrator has to be a good manager, diplomat and a visionary.

“And I think (Breslin) has those things,” O’Malley said. “I’m very confident and very hopeful that things are going to go very well.”

Breslin, originally from New York City, first came to Colorado while serving in the Army during the 1970s, when he was stationed at Fort Carson.

After he was discharged from the military, he went back to New York City and took a job as a firefighter.

“While I was a firefighter, I went to college and law school in my off time. I graduated from law school and I passed the bar and (I got) a license to practice law in New York,” Breslin said.

Breslin decided to stay with the fire department until his 20-year retirement and to practice law in his time off — while raising a family.

“Then when I had my 20 years in the fire department, I retired, and I had always wanted to live in Colorado — ever since I had lived here for three years when I was in the service,” Breslin said. “So in the mid-’90s my wife and I came up to Breckenridge and bought a piece of land. After I retired, I took a year off and built a house.”

After constructing his new home, Breslin decided to work again and ended up becoming director of public works and base operations for Keystone Resort.

“I left there after 10 years, at the end of 2008, and I took some time off and then I was looking for a good opportunity and somebody told me this position was open,” Breslin said. “I thought it would be a good match for (the county) with the different skill sets that I have.”

Breslin said the county administrator job appealed to him because it will give him the chance to work with a variety of people and use the skills he developed working as a director of public works in the ski industry.

“I had a lot of different departments with different revenue streams — very similar to what I’ll be doing in this position,” Breslin said. “So I thought it would be a good fit for me.”

Over the next couple of weeks, Breslin will be busy getting to know the ins and outs of his new job and touring the various operations in the county. He will then begin going over the various departments’ budgets.

“I’m just getting a feel for the county and the folks here, and I think it is a good fit for me, actually,” Breslin said.

Contact Ian Neligh at courant

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