City Manager recruitment strategy and budget

The City Manager recruitment strategy emerged from a long-term vacancy in the Finance Director position lasting nearly a year, combined with a history of strained manager-council relations that had produced high turnover.

On 2026-06-09 the Council first addressed the issue during a discussion of hiring methods, debating professional search firms against internal tools such as Indeed and LinkedIn while also considering organizational restructuring to combine or adjust the City Manager and Finance Director roles.

That meeting ended with unanimous authorization for the Mayor to collect information and quotes from recruiting firms, setting the stage for a formal presentation of options.

At the 2026-06-30 meeting the HR Director presented three explicit recruitment paths—in-house social-media efforts, Municipal Resources Inc. (MRI), or Rethink Local—prompting debate over cost, candidate-pool quality, and whether professional firms deliver committed local leaders or merely high-priced outsiders.

The Council ultimately approved an 8-1 motion authorizing the Mayor to negotiate a contract with MRI and return it for review, while also scheduling discussion of interim candidates to avoid a leadership gap.

The process now centers on whether the negotiated MRI contract will receive funding and approval or whether the Council will pivot back to a phased in-house approach.

On 2026-07-08 the Council considered two resolutions to advance the MRI contract: one appropriating $225,000 from the fund balance for search expenses and another authorizing the contract itself. After debate over contract language concerning signing authority, the Council approved both resolutions with a modification designating the Mayor as the authorized signatory on behalf of the Council.