OSAC advances city manager recruitment: consultant recommends five-week posting, stakeholder interviews and community meet-and-greet

The Operational Strategy and Administrative Committee (OSAC) met Sept. 26 to review and advance a recruitment plan for a permanent city manager, hear the consultant’s approach to sourcing candidates and approve a stakeholder survey to collect public input.

Cliff Moore, a consultant with Kaufman retained to run the recruitment, described a national search that uses targeted advertising and stakeholder interviews to build a candidate profile. "We recommend that [the job] stay open for at least five weeks," Moore said, adding that he will begin screening applications as they arrive and classify them into tiers (meet/exceed minimum qualifications, near-qualifying, and not recommended). Moore said preliminary interviews would follow the first review date so finalists can be assembled for decision-makers to consider.

The recruitment timeline discussed at the meeting included a near-term job launch, a short-listing process in late fall to winter, and a council action on a candidate contract in February with an anticipated confirmation by late March or April, depending on negotiation and onboarding logistics. Moore outlined a typical two-day finalist process that includes a public meet-and-greet, staff panels and multi-panel interviews.

Human Resources staff presented a companion stakeholder survey built in Microsoft Forms. The survey asks respondents to identify their relationship to the city, rank eight competencies the council identified, name three top knowledge/skill areas, and suggest one question they would ask a candidate. The survey includes a QR code and will be hosted on the city website; communications staff will promote it on city social channels.

Committee members debated how aggressive to be with timing. Council member Walker noted the recruitment will start under one council and conclude under another and urged flexibility to allow newly elected members to participate. Council member Scott and others urged balancing pace with sufficient public engagement. A public commenter, Sally Perkins, said she supported wider community inclusion and suggested adding at least one stakeholder panel of members from the charter review committee to broaden perspectives.

OSAC members gave consensus direction to Human Resources to "tighten the pipeline" where possible and return with a refined timeline. Committee members also agreed to provide final feedback on the job announcement and position description by the Tuesday after the meeting so staff and the consultant can proceed.

The consultant and HR staff said they will protect applicants’ confidentiality until finalists are identified and recommended a first-review date (to avoid locking out late-but-strong applicants) rather than a firm closing date. Moore said he will prepare interview packets and two- to three-page notes for each candidate advanced to the preliminary-interview stage.

The committee discussed public outreach for finalists. Moore described collecting community cards at a meet-and-greet and delivering that feedback to council. HR staff said the communications team will create a web page with timeline and materials and share the survey close date and other engagement opportunities.

Several members asked staff to return with a refined schedule that considers a five-week posting, stakeholder interviews, and council availability following the mid-November election certification. HR staff said they will work with Kaufman to identify opportunities to shorten the timeline while preserving outreach and screening best practices.

Ending: OSAC approved multiple procedural steps so HR and the consultant can post the job and begin recruitment work, while committee members continued to seek a balance between speed and meaningful public and newly elected-official participation.