Hanford council votes 5-0 to consider internal interim manager, hires outside firm for permanent city manager search

The Hanford City Council voted unanimously to pursue an internal candidate pool for an interim city manager and to hire an outside recruiting firm to conduct the search for a permanent city manager.

The council approved both actions by 5-0 votes. For the interim position the council directed Human Resources to solicit memoranda of interest from department heads (and consider other internal applicants) as a first step; if no suitable internal candidate is identified, the council left open the option to seek an outside interim. On a separate motion the council voted to retain a professional recruiting firm to perform a nationwide recruitment for the permanent city manager, with HR collaborating on job criteria and community engagement.

The decisions follow more than an hour of public comment in which residents urged both a transparent hiring process and a broad, professional search. Speakers repeatedly recommended using an outside firm to avoid perceived conflicts and improve…