Bluff City finalizes town manager job description; salary to be set after budget review

The Bluff City Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Tuesday approved a finalized job description for the town manager and voted to forward it to MTAS (Municipal Technical Advisory Service) for posting, while deferring action on salary and the board’s evaluation schedule until the budget is clearer.

The change matters because the town manager position includes oversight of multiple department heads and certain statutory duties; formalizing the job description begins the public recruitment process but leaves key terms — chiefly pay and an explicit board evaluation schedule — unresolved.

Board members said they had agreed on several textual edits after a workshop, but one item raised by Alderman Payne — a requirement for the board to perform a semiannual or annual evaluation of the town manager — was not included in the final description. Mayor Venable and others said guidance from consultant Pete Auger supported keeping certain duties, such as code enforcement and floodplain administration, in the manager’s description unless those duties were reassigned to another position.

"We can go forward with the changes," Mayor Venable said during the discussion. The board heard Auger’s explanation that some duties are commonly assigned to the town manager and would require separate assignment if removed.

Vice Mayor Samara Adams made the motion to approve the job description; Alderman Keith seconded. The recorder called the roll: Alderman Lund — yes; Alderman Keith — yes; Vice Mayor Samara Adams — yes; Alderman Johnson — yes. The motion carried and the description passed as written.

Members agreed not to set a salary at the same time. Several aldermen said the dollar figure should be determined after review of draft budget figures; Vice Mayor Adams and others said posting a range without context would likely discourage qualified applicants. Alderman Malone urged the board to include at least a salary range or to mark pay as "negotiable depending on experience" when posting so applicants have an expectation, but the board did not adopt a specific salary during the meeting.

The board also clarified how department supervision and performance appraisals would be handled: routine management of department heads remains an internal supervisory duty of the town manager, with escalating reporting to the board if problems persist. The board did not create a new evaluation schedule in the job description and left that procedural matter for a later discussion.

Next steps: the approved job description will be forwarded to MTAS for posting and recruitment assistance. The town manager’s salary and any formal schedule for board evaluations were left for a subsequent meeting after members have had an opportunity to review draft budget figures.