Multiple councilors and residents pressed the council about a year‑long vacancy for the service director and delays posting an economic/community development position. Speakers criticized the recruitment process, saying postings were not consistently advertised and that resume handling may have favored particular candidates.

"We were criticized because I tabled it for two weeks," one councilor said, adding that the position was never publicly posted as promised. Speaker 2 accused city leadership of using the process to favor specific candidates and said the council should not act further until the mayor is replaced.

City officials said they had interviewed candidates and were working on potential offers; Speaker 1 said two offers had been made and staff had opened a ticket to verify application records. A councilor who had sent the job posting to JobsOhio said she also expected broader advertising on platforms such as Indeed and LinkedIn.

The exchange became heated when speakers raised executive‑session disagreements. Some councilors argued the mayor and outside contractors had been involved in screening applicants; others defended actions as lawful and constrained by executive‑session confidentiality. No hire was finalized at the meeting and councilors agreed to pursue clearer posting and public‑posting policies moving forward.

Next steps discussed included reissuing public postings where appropriate, counsel reviewing hiring approvals and scheduling follow‑up work so the incoming council can reassess recruitment and committee oversight.