City officials described a multi-panel interview process aimed at helping the mayor choose an appointment that the council may later confirm, with Oct. 13 tentatively identified as a likely interview day.

Dave Zabel, of GMP Consultants, told the council the process would let the mayor, council and department heads assess finalists and said timing is important because candidates “may be looking elsewhere.” Zabel said, “we're probably talking about a 6 hour process” to interview candidates, though he later described the interview panels plus about an hour-long tour as taking roughly four hours.

The plan discussed would rotate each candidate through three interview panels — a council panel, an executive panel led by the mayor, and a department head panel — plus a tour and a shared lunch. Zabel said panels would debrief the mayor after each candidate to report “impressions of each of the candidates, the weaknesses, the strengths” and other observations to inform the mayor’s decision.

Council members and staff discussed adding a public meet-and-greet the evening before interviews. One council member recalled that prior searches used a community meet-and-greet and found it useful for residents to meet finalists; another noted that extending the process into two days raises costs. Scheduling constraints surfaced: a participant cited Sabbath observance as a reason Friday daytime interviews would be difficult, and several members emphasized picking a date when as many council members as possible can attend.

GMP asked the council to provide any specific questions it wants asked of candidates. Zabel said the consultant team would incorporate council and department head input into the interview questions so panels can evaluate candidates’ concrete examples of past experience as well as open-ended responses.

There was no formal vote or binding schedule set at the meeting. Zabel and council members repeatedly described the Oct. 13 date as tentative and said the mayor remains the decision maker for an appointment; Zabel noted there is “no deadline,” but added time is limited during recruitment because offers to candidates can move quickly.

The meeting concluded by unanimous procedural consent; a motion to adjourn was made and seconded and the presiding officer declared the meeting concluded at 8:45 p.m.