Nevada city council moves forward with city manager search

By Ralph Pokorny

Nevada Daily Mail

The process of hiring a new city manager is well under way, Bob Saunders, Organizational Consultants, told the Nevada City Council Tuesday night.

"At present we have received over 40 applications from both male and female candidates," Saunders said.

"There is some advertising out and I have sent 160 personal letters to assistant city managers and city managers and similar positions to see if we can find someone who may not be in the job market, but is interested," Saunders told the council.

He said that closing date for applications is Aug. 15.

Saunders, who was hired by the council to find and screen applicants for the position, was in town to go over a questionnaire Saunders gave to each councilman to give him information to work from to develop a profile to use in the selection process.

During a 90-minute work session, Saunders went over each of the 64 questions each of the five councilmen had been asked to answer to develop a consensus answer for each question.

Saunders divided the questions into three sections; community and city council profile questions, personal qualification questions and municipal management skills and style.

Questions such as: The three things about my city that make me proudest, three things about my city that disappoint me, the five most important problems Nevada is likely to face in the next three to five years, the kind of experience that would be relevant to qualify a person for city manager.

Other questions gave the councilmen a choice of three answers to force them to make a choice.

Things like: the city manager (must) (should) (need not) have experience living in a non-metropolitan area; the city manager (should) (should not) be the front person for the city council with the press and the public or the city manager (should) (should not) be a visible community leader.

During their discussion each councilman was encouraged to expand on his answers and to add nuances that are not possible with these types of answers.

After developing the profile, Saunders will send it to the councilmembers for any changes before he starts evaluating applicants and dividing them into three categories, those that match the profile, those that match in most areas and those that do not.

"This profile will help you recognize which finalist will be successful when they walk in the door," Saunders told the council.

After the applications are evaluated, Saunders will come to meet with the council in closed session to look over the applications and have the council choose three to five candidates to come in for interviews, sometime around the end of August.

"Those will be people who meet the profile. That is why the profile is important," he told the council.

When it comes time for the interviews it important for each candidate to be given exactly the same interview and they should be held close enough together that it is easy to remember the first interview when the last interview is finished, he said.

"I ask you to spend a couple of hours with each candidate," Saunders told the council, adding that this is where he usually meets some resistance from councils.

To help with the interview process, Saunders said that he would provide them with about 20 questions; however, he said that the councilmen are free to ask the candidates any questions they want, as long as it is legal, but they must ask each candidate the same questions.

"It won't be difficult to develop a profile from these answers," he said after the meeting was over.

Saunders brings a wide array of experience to this process having been a councilman, mayor and city manager, as well as having taught in the business and public administration department at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He has had his own consulting business for 25 years.

In other business the council:

* Voted unanimously to pass on first reading a special ordinance accepting the revised bid of $2,518,031.20 from Snyder Construction, the low bidder, for improvements at the Nevada Municipal Airport. The improvements include pulverizing and then compacting the existing runway material and adding four-inches of new asphalt, as well as installing new runway lights and a new beacon.

* Passed on first reading a special ordinance authorizing the city of Nevada to advertise for bids for the new airport terminal building.

* Accepted the bid from Auctions by Schulze for auction services for surplus city equipment. Shulze will conduct the auction for 10-percent of the gross proceeds, plus advertising expenses of $300 and one radio advertisement.

* Passed on second reading a special ordinance approving an agreement with the Carl Brown Consulting, LLC, to conduct a water and sewer rate survey.

* Passed on second reading a special ordinance accepting a 20-foot easement on the west side of North Barrett Street as granted by Lewis Stutesman. The easement will allow the city to extend the street to existing businesses and to allow the installation of a turnaround for emergency equipment.

* Passed on second reading a special ordinance accepting a 20-foot easement on the east side of North Barrett Street as granted by Robert and Linda Coonrod.