Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Director Search topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commission outlines expedited search for new director of San Francisco Department of Public Health
Summary
The Health Commission and the Department of Human Resources proposed a recruitment schedule to identify up to three finalists for the mayor to consider, including a public input meeting on Sept. 18, use of an outside search firm for confidential sourcing (Berkeley Search Consultants), and an estimated recruiter fee of about $40,000.
The San Francisco Health Commission moved forward with a plan to identify candidates to replace Director Barbara Garcia, who resigned after more than seven years leading the Department of Public Health. President Chao reminded commissioners that the city charter allows the commission to submit up to three names to the mayor for consideration.
Mickey Callahan, Human Resources Director, outlined a recruitment framework that includes a public meeting for community input (scheduled for Sept. 18 at 2 p.m.), a draft job announcement informed by that input, a supplemental questionnaire for screening, and confidential application handling. "We will keep the applications outside of the city's regular HR system," Callahan said, describing the rationale for using an external recruiter to protect confidentiality.
Callahan said the city plans to engage an outside firm, Berkeley Search Consultants, to publicize the announcement, source candidates and collect applications. She estimated that the contractor fee would likely be about $40,000 and said the city will set aside modest funds to support candidate travel if in-person interviews are needed. "We do recommend, even though we expect there should be a rich pool of candidates who may be already in this region, setting aside some funds as well for candidate travel," Callahan said.
Commissioners pressed on the timeline. Commissioner Guglielmo voiced concern that the plan may be ambitious for a national search during the holiday season; Callahan said the commission should remain flexible and that the process could be extended into January if necessary. The commission asked staff to circulate the final job announcement and to provide screening questions for the commissions review.
Next steps: staff will post the application materials after incorporating public input, begin candidate sourcing with the contracted recruiter, and return to the commission with a recommended timeline and candidate shortlist for interview and ranking before forwarding up to three names to the mayor.
