The City Council approved a nonexclusive vendor service agreement with Smith Temporaries Inc., dba Cornerstone Staffing, to provide temporary staffing services for the city in an amount not to exceed $500,000 per fiscal year.

Staff described Cornerstone as a regional staffing firm with experience working with local governments; the city intends to use the firm primarily to recruit for hard‑to‑fill positions (excluding most public‑safety roles). Under the agreement the city will pay the fully loaded hourly cost for the position to Cornerstone; temporary hires receive the base hourly rate while Cornerstone retains the dollar value attributed to employee benefits. The contract allows an 18‑week temporary period after which a satisfactorily performing temporary worker can convert to city employment with no placement fee from Cornerstone.

Staff said the procurement was a piggyback on an existing City of Fort Worth contract and that Cornerstone rose to the top after Fort Worth’s RFP process. Council members asked about competitiveness and whether Cornerstone could recruit for Mineral Wells’ pay scales; staff said Cornerstone reviewed the city’s hourly rates and did not express concern about finding candidates for most positions. Council approved the agreement 7–0.

Ending: The city will continue to post vacancies on its usual channels; Cornerstone will add outreach and candidate sourcing for selected vacancies and city staff will monitor performance under the first contract period.