Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
City officials last week selected and set interviews for the four top candidates seeking the city manager position, with at least two more candidates likely to be selected for interviewing in the coming week.
The four selected candidates, all of whom live outside the area and whom expert advisor Jim Hanson recommended, are Anthony Carson, Marcus Collins, Seth Lawless and Frank Ventresco. The closest of the candidates lives about an hour away, the others as far as Missouri, North Carolina and Texas.
A second tier of candidates that Hanson labeled qualified but not recommended, also numbered four. City officials hope to choose another two from this second tier list to make for a total of six candidates to interview. As of last week, however, the council had yet to name the last two candidates.
The council expects to interview the candidates between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 4, and reach a decision on Tuesday, Oct. 5. The plan is to give the candidates and their spouses a tour of the town and some kind of reception prior to the interviews, depending on the Covid situation at the time.
Hanson made his recommendations to the council on Tuesday evening, Aug. 24. At the time, however, the council was prevented from taking action because it lacked a quorum. Three of the members participated by phone, which allowed them to listen to Hanson’s presentation and ask question but not vote. Hence, the reason for the council holding a second meeting on Wednesday evening, Aug. 25.
Hanson told the council at the earlier meeting that after reviewing the applications of the 23 persons who had applied for the position, he and fellow senior advisor Ken Parker had chosen eight for recommendation, four in what he called the top tier, and four in a second tier.
He and Parker, he said, had made the selections based on the candidates’ knowledge, skills, abilities, traits and competencies, as identified on the questionnaires that council members had earlier completed.
“Our recommendations are contained in three groups,” Hanson said. “They are the recommended candidates, qualified by not recommended, and not recommended.”
Of course, he added, the council members were free to choose from any of the 23 candidates for interviewing, if they liked.
He advised the council to move forward quickly but with all due diligence, as the candidates likely were applying for jobs elsewhere and time was of the essence.
“Delay may cause some to take jobs elsewhere and drop out of consideration for Monticello,” he said, noting that the recommended candidates were all of a high caliber, especially given Monticello’s size and the small salary it was offering, comparatively speaking.
He recommended that the council plan to interview five to seven candidates in total, in case some dropped out in the interim.
Next, he said, the council should schedule the interviews at least 30 days out, to allow time for the candidates to make arrangements, as many had jobs and were traveling from far away.
Others of Hanson’s recommendations included:
The council should do criminal, financial and Google background checks on each of the candidates, so that no surprises would arise and derail the selection process at the last minute. He suggested a company that did the background checks for $200 each.
The council should also let city staff give the candidates a tour of the city so they could get a better feel for the community, at the same time, the staff could better assess the candidates. He reminded the council that it was a two-way street: the city was trying to market itself, and the candidates were trying to market themselves.
The council should plan some kind of public reception to allow a chance for the candidates to interact with the community so both sides would get a chance to meet and assess each other.
Finally, he recommended that the city pay the travel expenses for the candidates and their spouses and provide local accommodations for their stays in town.
Once the interviews were concluded, the council should make a first and second choice in the event the employment negotiations failed with the first, a second would be readily available.
Hanson promised to have sample questions available for the council members’ use prior to the interviews.
A retired city manager with some 30 years of experience, Hanson provides his service free to small cities as part of a program by the Florida City and County Management Association.