The former City Administrator retired on September 30, 2017, and Mr. Bruce McCandless was named Interim City Administrator. Prior to the City Administrator's  departure, the City Council issued a Request for Proposals for Executive Search Services.  The City Council selected The Mercer Group, Inc. and began working with Mr. Jim Mercer, and subsequently with Mr. WD Higginbotham. Four applicants were interviewed on November 30, 2017. Council selected a candidate on December 1, negotiations ensued between the candidate and a City Council subcommittee, but negotiations were unsuccessful and the candidate withdrew.  As a result, the City Council needs to determine next steps in the City Administrator recruitment process.
 

City Council may:

• Contact the remaining finalists, determine if any of them are still interested in the position and attempt to negotiate a contract with the candidate that the Council selects.
• Immediately begin recruiting  a City Administrator with The Mercer Group's assistance.
•  Immediately begin the recruiting process and select another Executive Search firm
• Continue with the Interim City Administrator assignment and delay recruiting for an indefinite time.
• Enter into an Agreement with Mr. McCandless as the City Administrator for a set term, recruit and hire an Assistant City Administrator and recruit a new City Administrator before the end of the contract term.
• Recruit and contract with an individual as City Administrator for 1-2 years and recruit a longer term City Administrator before the end of the contract term.

The staff believes that the first three (3) alternatives are problematic.  None of the remaining finalists received majority support from the former Mayor and Council.  The recently seated Mayor and three (3) Councilmembers did not participate in the selection process and may not be prepared at this time to offer the position to any of the candidates.  Immediately re-starting the recruitment may not be fruitful.  Negative media reports from the previous recruitment may inhibit some qualified managers from applying for the job.  The Council should take some time to discuss and agree on a selection process and schedule.  It should consider surveying other cities and use professional associations to help it decide what salary and benefits it is willing to offer to a selected candidate.  Mr. McCandless may be willing to remain indefinitely in the interim position, but doing so diminishes his ability to lead staff and may discourage hiring an Assistant City Administrator.  It may also require two (2) departments with interim directors to function that way for well over a year. Either of the final alternatives could work well depending on what the Council wants to accomplish in 2018 and its longer term goals for City leadership. 

The financial impact of the alternatives are as follows:

• The cost for Mercer to continue the search for City Administrator candidates is estimated at $15,000 to $20,000.  The Mercer Group guarantee to conduct another recruitment under the former contract applies only if the Council had been unable to select a candidate from the hiring pool that Mercer presented.
• The estimated cost to hire another Executive Search firm is estimated at $20,000 to $25,000.
• The cost to contract with Mr. McCandless is unknown and subject to negotiations.
• The estimated cost to hire an outside individual as a short term City Administrator is estimated to be $12,000 to $15,000 per month. 

Funds for another executive search are not budgeted in FY 2018.  However, there have been considerable salary savings in the City Administrator budget, so funding another search will probably not exceed the budget.

Staff recommends that City Council select one of the options presented.