Watertown council approves Robert Half to lead expedited city manager search

The Watertown City Council on Feb. 3 authorized hiring the Robert Half Group to conduct a national search for a new city manager, following a formal recommendation from the council’s Succession Planning Committee.

The recommendation came from Rob Peterson, chairman of the Succession Planning Committee, who told the council the committee issued a revised job description, issued a request for proposals and received two responses. “We’re recommending that we go with the Robert Half Group as our firm to help us find the next city manager,” Peterson said. The council approved the motion by roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously.

The committee said it selected Robert Half because it is a national executive-search firm and can run a broader search than regional firms. Peterson said the net effect should be a faster, more varied candidate pool: Robert Half would seek candidates nationally, present roughly 8 to 10 candidates to the committee, the committee would interview and trim that list, then forward 2–3 finalists to the council for final interviews and selection.

Interim City Manager Bob Zine and the committee told the council they prefer an expedited timeline. Peterson characterized the process as “fairly quick — a couple of months” compared with an alternative that could take eight to nine months. HR Director Nichols told council members that the city will post recruitment links on the city manager page of the city website and recommended adding the posting to the SDML (South Dakota Municipal League) portal.

Council members asked about public involvement and internal candidates. Peterson and other committee members said any internal or local candidate should go through the same vetting process handled by the recruiting firm to ensure parity and avoid later questions about whether finalists were adequately vetted. Peterson added the committee could, if council directed it, include select stakeholders in interviews but advised caution about large public interview forums.

Council discussion also addressed the revised job description the committee drafted to streamline and focus the city manager qualifications. Councilman Peters said the group shortened the prior eight-page description to three pages and said that “less is more” would likely attract more candidates. Several council members expressed support for seeking a candidate with a “CEO mindset,” including private-sector or nonprofit executives who can manage complex organizations and work with an appointed council.

The motion approved tonight directs staff to contract with Robert Half Group to assist the committee and council in recruiting and vetting candidates for the city manager position.