Council favors outside assistance, community and staff committees for town manager search

The council opened discussion of the selection process for a new town manager after Stacy reported receiving 11 applications. Members expressed a preference for using outside assistance to design and manage the recruitment, while also involving community stakeholders and staff in screening and evaluation.

Councilors reported having preliminary contacts with several recruitment consultants and search firms; cost estimates discussed ranged from flat-fee hourly arrangements to typical full search fees equal to a percentage of the new hire’s salary. Several councilors said they could not justify the highest-priced national searches given the town’s fiscal situation and asked staff to solicit detailed proposals and cost estimates from three firms with relevant experience in municipal executive recruitment.

Councilors also supported forming two advisory groups — a civic leaders/business-owner panel to assess community fit and an employees’ panel to assess operational fit — to score and vet applicants. The council sought proposals that would incorporate public outreach, community input and staff participation; several members said the candidates presented to council should be those the advisory groups and the consultant jointly recommend.

Council members noted practical considerations for recruitment materials, including clearly stating the salary range and explaining residency requirements. Several councilors stressed the importance of selling the community’s lifestyle as part of recruitment and recommended limiting the geographic pool to communities with similar profiles when advising the consultant.

By consensus the council asked Stacy and staff to request proposals and cost estimates from the contacts identified by councilors and to return the information at the next meeting for a formal decision on contracting for search services.