The City Council on Tuesday agreed to postpone final action on a staff request to authorize recruitment for three senior positions — assistant public works director, chief of police and community services director — and asked staff to return after a closed-session review of organizational needs.

Mandy Kellogg introduced the item, explaining that the city had a temporary hiring freeze adopted previously and that the request would permit recruitment of the three vacancies: the community services director role (vacated earlier), an assistant public works director position that has been vacant and the chief of police position following a planned retirement.

Council members raised questions about whether internal candidates should be considered first and whether recruitment should be aligned with the ongoing modernization/organizational review the council is conducting. Council Member Barrick explicitly proposed using the modernization consultant to inform hiring, and others suggested using short-term contracted “hired-gun” project managers if immediate capacity is required while longer-term structure decisions are finalized.

City Manager Anil Camello said staff is already assessing internal options, particularly for the community services director, and noted that contracts for recruitment firms would allow the city to act quickly when needed. Assistant City Manager and Public Works Director Joe Leach and other staff explained that the assistant public works director post carries a large set of direct reports and operational responsibilities and that the vacancy affects operations and regulatory collaboration.

Council members and staff agreed that the chief of police recruitment could proceed more easily because an internal acting appointment — Lieutenant Justin Tarp — is available to provide interim coverage. Ultimately the council asked staff to table the formal recruitment approvals, finalize closed-session briefings the following day and return with a recommendation; no formal vote to authorize recruitment was taken at the meeting.

Councilors also discussed whether to pursue short-term consultant support for high-priority public-works program management while the larger organizational review and recruitment decisions are completed.