Doug Merriman’s backstory is so improbable that one might be tempted to think he made it all up.

He’s a classical pianist turned elite paratrooper turned West Point cadet turned Green Beret instructor turned accountant turned doctor of philosophy.

Tuesday, he got another title to add to his very unique resume. He’s now the city administrator for Oak Harbor.

Merriman, the city’s longtime finance director, bravely endured lengthy praise Tuesday night as Oak Harbor City Council members approved Mayor Scott Dudley’s decision to appoint him as the city’s top non-elected official.

“There are intangibles that a phenomenal city administrator needs to have and I think that we have that with our own Dr. Merriman,” Dudley said.

Merriman replaces Larry Cort, who retired from the position due to health problems. Merriman had been acting city administrator off and on over the last year as Cort underwent surgery for a brain tumor and went through followup treatments.

Since Dudley is leaving office at the end of the year, he checked with the two candidates for mayor — Councilmen Jim Campbell and Bob Severns — about appointing Merriman to the position and they both approved of the decision.

Councilman Rick Almberg hinted at Merriman’s interesting curriculum vitae in his comments.

“When you see Douglas A. Merriman’s business card, it’s going to say, ‘Douglas A. Merriman, PhD, CM-ICMA-CPA-CFV. It should say classic pianist and former airborne soldier,” he said.

Merriman, who grew up in the Bothell and Woodinville area, spent much of his youth practicing to become a concert pianist; he had the rare ability to hear a song and play it instantly on the piano. But then he decided to go a completely different direction and enlisted to become an Army paratrooper.

“Music is something you can do whatever your job is,” he said.

The Army was so impressed with Merriman that he was sent to an elite paratrooper unit — the 82nd Airborne — and then to an even-more elite 172nd Arctic Brigade at Fort Richardson in Alaska. He patrolled the Alaskan pipeline in some of the most extreme weather and terrain in the world.

Small groups of paratroopers would parachute out of helicopters — often at night — and patrol for weeks at a time, carrying more than 90 pounds of gear and sleeping in snow forts.

Once again, he excelled. This time the Secretary of the Army offered him an appointment to West Point, which is an especially rare honor for an enlisted man. Merriman accepted and went to the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School to prepare.

While at West Point, however, Merriman realized that he didn’t want a lifelong career in the military and bowed out. Instead he was sent to train special forces on survival technique, particularly rappelling.

Once again, Merriman decided to go in a different direction. He got an accounting degree from Central Washington University and years later got a masters degree in management, with a finance concentration, from the University of Maryland University College.

This year he became a doctor. He earned a PhD from Walden University in “applied management and decision science.”

His dissertation was titled “Cyclical Economic Impacts on Fiscal Imbalance Levels in the United States.” He studied how changes in the economy can affect a community based on demographics.

When it comes to applying what he learned, he points to the importance of demographics — “understanding who you are” —  in creating an economic development plan for a city.

“It’s not just about filling vacant storefronts with businesses,” he said. “They need to be the right kinds of businesses for the community.”

Merriman said he’s looking forward to putting some of his knowledge to use in working with the city’s new economic development coordinator.

Before becoming Oak Harbor’s finance director 18 years ago, Merriman was the assistant vice president at Interwest Savings Bank, a CPA at a local firm and then a budget manager for the city of Bellingham.

Shortly after becoming Oak Harbor’s finance director, he discovered a $1 million hole in the budget that nobody knew about.

Since then, the city has been on solid financial footing under Merriman’s watchful eye; he’s won plenty of accounting and finance awards over the years.

Under his new contract, Merriman will earn $145,000 a year plus benefits that include an extra 40 hours of vacation time each year on top of the regular amount of vacation accrued by city employees.

Tuesday, Dudley said one of the biggest challenges facing the city is finding a new finance director to fill Merriman’s shoes.