City of Centralia City Manager Search Committee met July 23.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
The members of the City Manager Search Committee met on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 at 3:10 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Centralia City Hall. Due to the absence of Chairman Langenfeld, Committee Member Lane was appointed to serve as Committee Chair in his absence.
Roll Call:
Tom Ashby, Marcus Holland, Chuck Lane, and Greg Sutton
Ex-officio Members: Mayor Herb Williams
Staff: City Clerk Kim Enke
Absent: Sheila Burcham, Forrest Langenfeld, Steve Upchurch, and Ex-Officio member Councilman Sauer
Public Participation:
None
Minutes:
A motion was made by Committee Member Holland and seconded by Committee Member Sutton to approve the minutes of the July 17, 2019 minutes. The motion carried.
New Business:
Mayor Williams provided a letter to the Committee that was approved to be communicated with the committee by the Council at the City Council Meeting on July 22nd. He gave an overview of the letter stating that experience is necessary with a minimum of 5 years of experience preferred. He stated that a combination of the other skills and qualifications listed is desired. Committee Member Ashby stressed the importance of having the Mayor and City Council review the resumes that are being submitted. Mayor Williams stated that they will be reviewing all resumes and Temporary Chairman Lane pointed out that the last paragraph of the letter submitted by the City Council covers that by noting that they will review all resumes along with the top five candidates being recommended for further consideration. Committee Member Sutton wanted to be sure that it was communicated with the Council that they are able to review the resumes as well. The City Clerk stated that the Council is aware that they could also review the resumes. Committee Member Holland also stated that the letter was read and approved at Council Meeting by the City Council. Committee Member Sutton stated that he had started to review the resumes and narrowed the applicants down to seven with two of those resumes having limited information in order to determine if they met the criteria. Committee Member Holland stated that per the letter the committee should be conducting phone interviews and this should be the next step. The committee discussed that each of the members could rank the candidates and have the same results or it may result in five different candidates. Committee Member Ashby stated that he would feel more comfortable knowing that the Council has looked them over and reviewed the candidates to be sure they are consistent. Committee Member Holland stated that at the meeting Councilman Jones expressed the importance of experience and Councilman Sauer and Councilman Marshall stressed the importance of budget experience and fiscal management. Committee Member Sutton further stated that some of the candidate’s resumes that he has reviewed listed planning experience and he felt that it was important for them to have it. Committee Member Holland recalled the 2nd committee meeting that was held that included the committee discussing the qualifications of the candidates. He noted that it seemed that the committee and the City Council are on the same page. Temporary Chairman Lane stated that the competencies listed on the letter from the Council seem to overlap with the same qualifications that the Committee was looking for as well. Committee Member Ashby stated that collective bargaining is an immediate need and experience with economic development and budgeting will also be a high priority. He questioned if infrastructure or economic development are attributes that are high priorities. He stated that he wanted to get more feedback and conduct the search based upon what they are looking for. Mayor Williams stated that he thinks that the committee should suggest to the Council who the committee thinks the best candidates will be. Mayor Williams stated that he doesn’t think that any one candidate is going to have a great amount of experience with all areas or meet all of the nine areas that are listed as criteria. They are going to be strong in some and weak in others. He continued by stating that the committee will need to review each individual and submit the best candidates to the Council that the committee feels fits the needs of the City at this time, whether it be someone with collective bargaining, economic development, or whatever the committee thinks should be considered. He stated that he expects each member of the Council to have different things that they are looking for as well. Temporary Chairman Lane suggested that it would be helpful if the Council would submit two or three main things that the Council is looking for, but stated that the direction in the letter is to look for the most experience or combination of the criteria. Committee Member Ashby stated that now that the committee has this list of criteria and the resumes, the committee should review the applications based on the criteria and then review them together at the next meeting. It was also recommended by him that the Council communicate what strengths each of them are looking for. He suggested that by reviewing them together as a group they could potentially have approximately eight candidates, then follow up with phone interviews to then narrow it to the final five. Sutton stated that economic development is two factors. He stated that TIF and enterprise zone tools may or may not be used or available in some municipalities so he looked for candidates that had true economic development experience and those that used the tools. He stated that there are only two resumes that have TIF or Enterprise Zone experience listed on them. He stated that it is important to look for those that have overall economic development experience. He stated that there are TIF Attorneys that can help the city with that aspect when needed. Temporary Chairman Lane gave an overview of the next steps stating that before the next meeting, the committee should review the resumes and rank them but at the same time the Council should be responding to let the committee know the top one or two or what the most important priorities are. He stated that there is a better chance of success by knowing what the Council is looking for. The Clerk provided spreadsheets to the committee for them to use to analyze the resumes based on the qualifications that were in the letter from the City Council. She noted that each member would be able to determine which five candidates rank the highest and then all of the sheets could be submitted to determine the highest ranking candidates of the group. Temporary Chairman Lane added that with the extra information that the Council will be providing, the committee will be able to determine which ones meet the qualifications. Committee Member Sutton stated that he had reviewed some of the candidate’s municipalities online to find out more about them and their progress. Temporary Chairman Lane stated that following interviews the rankings of the candidates may change. Committee Member Sutton stated that he wanted the committee to have the list of upcoming projects and priorities of the Council in order to know what to ask the candidates about. He stated that it didn’t need to be the specifics but the types of activity such as economic development, TIF negotiations, enterprise zone negations, etc. Committee Member Ashby asked the Mayor if they could get that information from the Council. Mayor Williams asked the Clerk to communicate with the Council in order to get their top priorities and follow up with Councilman Sauer in regards to the list that he was going to compile from the City Manager. Committee Member Ashby stated that the City Manager should be providing a list of priorities as well. Temporary Chairman Lane suggested that a meeting with the Council could be beneficial. Committee Member Ashby recommend that the committee first see what response they get from the Council and then go from there.
Old Business:
None
Other Business:
The next meeting was scheduled for Wednesday July 31, 2019 at 3:00 p.m.
With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned to closed session under 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1) The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body at 3:41 p.m.
https://cityofcentralia.org/vertical/sites/%7BFC680FE7-BE5C-4903-A103-67AF5EF51655%7D/uploads/July_23_2019_minutes.pdf
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