Sean C. Morgan
The City Council held off deciding what process to use for selection of a new city manager.
Interim City Manager Christy Wurster asked the council during its regular meeting on June 14 which of three options it preferred to use.
The first option is to use the interim city manager to run the recruitment process. The second option is to enter an agreement with the Local Government Personnel Institute or Cascades West Council of Governments for assistance recruiting a manager. The third option is to select a professional executive search firm to recruit a new manager.
“The City Council needs to discuss and select the desired recruitment strategy or revised strategy and direct the city manager pro tem to take the appropriate administrative steps to move forward in the next stage of the recruitment process,” Wurster said.
Wurster can fill the position as an interim manager for up to 6 months.
Councilor Jeff Goodwin said he is concerned about the cost of recruitment and preferred the first option, using the interim city manager to run the process.
Councilor Dave Trask said the only issue with that option is if Wurster were interested in applying for the position. To allow that option, he preferred the second option, using local government resources to recruit a new manager.
Goodwin would rather defer this process for another month, he said. The council has a lot going on now, and “I’m not in a hurry to start the process.”
Wurster told the council that it could hold a workshop to decide which way to go, and in the meantime, she could go to work developing a “community profile,” so it is ready to go whichever way the council decides to go.
The council voted 6-0 to table the question until its regular meeting on July 12 and to set a work session for June 28.
Present were Goodwin, Trask, James Goble, Greg Mahler, Ryan Underwood and Mayor Jim Gourley.
In other business, the council:
– Accepted a $500 donation from Comcast to help pay for the Public Library’s Summer Reading Program.
– Presented If I Were Mayor awards to Trinity Naomi Nollen, fifth grade Oak Heights won poster contest, and Mercedes Ray Burks, sixth grade at Foster School won essay contest. Their entries have been submitted at the state level.
– Approved changes to its 2015-16 budget, which ends on June 30 following a public hearing. The changes recognize additional funds and changes from the original budget.
– Approved the transfer of $100,000 from the General Fund contingency to the executive department personnel services line item within the General Fund to pay costs associated with the agreement the council entered into with Craig Martin when he resigned from the position.