Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
As of Jan. 1, which marked the closing date for the submission of applications for the position of city manager, 22 people had applied for the job, consultant Mark Ryan informed the Monticello City Council on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
Ryan, a retired city manager and senior advisor for the Florida City/County Management Association (FCCMA), is guiding the city council through the search and selection process.
Ryan told the council members that he had prepared a qualitative analysis of the 22 candidates, which information had been provided to each of them for review.
He explained that the rationale for the scoring system consisted of a number value assigned to each of the candidates, depending on the individual’s level of education, supervisory experience, knowledge of grant writing, and operational knowledge of water and wastewater systems, among other factors.
Ryan told the council members that he couldn’t stress enough the importance of each of them doing their own research in preparation for the screening and selection of the top candidates for interviewing.
“I also can’t stress enough to use Google,” Ryan said. “Google is your friend. You’d be surprised what you can learn about your applicants from the Internet. I repeat, Google is your friend.”
The council set a workshop at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21, to shortlist the 22 applicants and come up with the top candidates to interview at a later day.
The city has been in the process of finding a new manager since the contract of the former city manager expired at the end of September and the council opted not to renew it.
In the interim, Steve Wingate, who long served as the city manager here, was recruited to return and serve as acting city manager until a new manager could be hired.