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Montrose council to interview three finalists for city manager on Dec. 14
Summary
Montrose City Council voted Dec. 5 to interview three finalists — candidates 4, 7 and 11 — for city manager and named candidate 3 as an alternate, scheduling interviews for Dec. 14 at 9 a.m. Pivot Group advised on confidentiality, redacted resumes and a one-year placement guarantee.
Montrose — The Montrose City Council voted Dec. 5 to interview three finalists for the city manager position and scheduled the interviews for Saturday, Dec. 14, at 9 a.m.
Mayor Pro-Tem Mark Richard moved that Candidates No. 4, 7 and 11 be interviewed and that Candidate No. 3 serve as an alternate; Ryan Heslop seconded the motion, which passed on a voice vote of all ayes. The motion was announced during a special meeting that began at 6:00 p.m. at the Montrose City Office, 139 S. Saginaw Street.
Pivot Group Representative James Freed told the council the job opening has been posted and that he had contacted potential candidates who may not have seen the posting to broaden the pool. "In accordance with Michigan law, candidates may request confidentiality until they are publicly interviewed at a council meeting," Freed said, and he explained the practice of redacting resumes so each applicant is evaluated consistently.
Freed advised the council to avoid sharing candidate-identifying information before public interviews to protect applicants and to ask each candidate the same questions to obtain comparable responses. He also described the selection sequence used by his firm: after the council designates lead candidates, background and employment investigations begin and Pivot provides a one-year placement guarantee should a placement not work out.
Interim City Manager Bob Naumann reviewed the council's tallies for candidates while Freed answered council questions and said he would provide un-redacted resumes to the city manager for those candidates the council selects to interview.
During council comments, Melissa Wallace-Hoose said she had initial concerns about the process but felt it was heading in the right direction. Ryan Heslop said he was impressed with the candidate pool and hoped interviews would go well; Richard and Robert Arnold said they were likewise impressed. Mayor Tom Banks cautioned the council not to judge candidates solely by their paper materials and urged waiting until after interviews before forming judgments.
The special meeting adjourned at 7:12 p.m. after a motion by Mayor Pro-Tem Richard, seconded by Arnold, which passed on a voice vote of all ayes. The council will next meet to conduct the scheduled candidate interviews on Dec. 14.
