The city manager came with a proposal from a company that did searches for other cities the price would be $21,000. All I can find in the administrative ordinances indicates that if it cost more than $10,000 then it should go through some sort of bidding process. The city manager seemed to think that the council could go ahead without bidding. He, also, seemed to once again not want citizens involved because of all the problems other places have had. Well some information has come up since them that begs a least a few questions, if not a full stop and start again.
The firm suggested has been active in the hiring processes of a list of cities. We have a little feed back on their efforts to add to the concern on just having one company present.
1. Bill Tavernier of Deltona served on two selection committees that involved this firm. He found them to be “favoritism of certain candidates provided by the firm” and “there were inconsistencies and lobbying, acceptance of late resumes, “all by a professional search firm”.” Further he said “Save yourself $25,000 and go it individually, maintain control of the situation.”
This is from an email sent by Bill Tavernier to the council on 10/19/2009 and should be available by public record if you want to read the full email.
2. This firm was hired by the city of Oak Hill for $21,000 to do a search of a new city manger. They gave them five candidates. One of the candidates had incorrect employment info on his resume. This has left officials in Oak Hill in the position of not being able to trust the info. The person who apparently did not submit a correct resume was a former city manager of Orange City.
It is a slippery, sloppy mess to let others do your work for you.
Here’s the search process I’d like to see.
1. Bid out the services for help.
2. Have a 7 member citizen group conduct meetings on the top 10 the search firm brings forward. This would allow for public review of ten candidates.
3. The background check for employment education and references could be done by the OC HR department and reported to the committee.
4. A law enforcement background check could be done by the OCPD. Both background checks seem to me to be authorized in the charter for the city manager to order.
5. The committee would review all ten and rank them in order and send the list to council.
6. The council would short list three for onsite interviews and selection.
It is not perfect but better that getting five guys, one of which could be the old city manager, with no way of knowing if the info is right on any one.
Other ways are possible; too, I just always love participation of more people not less. More openness is better.
Are you listening to HUGH??? If so, please proceed with caution! By Hugh Strickland’s very own standard this Blog is NOT worthy of your time or attention. Why??? In Hugh’s very publication above he states; information was incorrectly presented resulting in “not being able to trust the info”. Well what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. His (and I use this statement loosely) “investigative reporting” has INCORRECT info, in that, he states the city in section number 2 is Oak Hill, when in fact, it’s Holly Hill, resulting in “not being able to trust the remaining info”! This isn’t the first time Hugh’s been called on the carpet for posting “INCORRECT” info. Do some checking on your own and you’ll quickly realize his BLOGS contain a little bit of fact with a lot of fiction (he gets your attention, but can only hold on to it by adding fiction). Just check out his Blog titled “Paul RAScH votes for taxes, fee increases and water fee increases”, he references inaccurate documents, leaving one to take him at his word. To err is human… unless your given name is Strickland. Hugh chooses to deny, deny, deny or better yet, point out everything else wrong (even if it’s not) and no one will be looking at him! Clever, maybe… Smart, hardly! I agree that the city should put away our check book, roll up their sleeves and do the job they were elected to do… and go about to hire the next city manager without delegating it to someone else. Run Ads, set a ranking standard (# years of City Manager service, minimum education etc.), then comb through the applicants and set out to find the next city manager. Just know… the BOYS do have an agenda!
Notice that cowards never use their names.