The Mineral Wells City Council voted 7–0 to approve a nonexclusive vendor service agreement with Smith Temporaries Inc., doing business as Cornerstone Staffing, to provide temporary staffing and candidate outreach services to the city.

Staff said the firm is regional and experienced in local-government staffing; the city is piggybacking on a City of Fort Worth contract. Under the agreement, when the city has a vacancy Cornerstone will screen and refer candidates and, for temporary placements, the city would pay Cornerstone the fully loaded hourly cost for the position (salary plus benefits); the temporary worker would receive the base hourly wage. Staff used a numerical example in the meeting: for a position with a base pay of $20 per hour and an estimated loaded cost of $28 per hour, the city would pay Cornerstone $28 per hour while the temp would be paid $20 per hour; Cornerstone retains the difference to cover benefits and associated costs. The city would have the option to convert a satisfactory temporary worker to a city employee after an 18-week period without an additional placement fee.

Why it matters: staff said the contract is intended to strengthen talent acquisition and outreach for difficult-to-fill positions; the city will continue to post vacancies publicly but Cornerstone will provide supplemental outreach and recruitment. Staff noted they do not anticipate routing most public-safety positions through the vendor.

Council and staff discussed competitiveness; staff said Cornerstone reviewed the city’s hourly rates and did not express concern about finding candidates for most classifications. The agreement cost was capped at $500,000 per fiscal year as presented to council.

Action: Council approved the nonexclusive agreement 7–0 and staff said the city will use the contract selectively for hard-to-fill vacancies and for outreach work.

Ending: Staff said the city will monitor performance and may reassess the arrangement after an initial period.