Johnstown City Council voted to hire George Hayfield as the city’s new manager during Wednesday night’s council meeting.

Hayfield, the current city administrator for Arnold in Westmoreland County, has a background in planning and urban development. He’s worked in small and poor communities in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Hayfield says he’s prepared to tackle the issues facing the City of Johnstown.

“The problems here are much like where I’m coming from right now. It’s the same issues: loss of industry, declining population, decreasing tax base. These are problems shared by quite a few communities in southwestern Pennsylvania,” Hayfield said.

Also Wednesday night, council was advised to keep Johnstown in Act 47 — a state program to help “financially distressed” cities — for the next three years.

Hayfield will replace Interim City Manager Curt Davis, whose six-month contract ends in June. Hayfield will start on July 1, 2018. His contract runs through the first council meeting of January 2020.