Nevada city manager search committee evaluating dozens of applications

Nevada Daily Mail

"This is very, very important and we want your input in doing this," Nevada Mayor Mike Hutchens told members of the city council's city manager selection committee during a special council meeting Monday morning.

When the council started searching for a new permanent city manager they decided to appoint a committee of five people to go through all of the applications and select the applicants who best matched the criteria defined by the council members.

The committee will begin meeting on Oct. 5 to evaluate the applications the city has received and consists of John Flynn, Katie Long, Brian Breckenridge, Jeremy Fast and James Stacy.

"We have attempted to do this on our own, without hiring a firm that does this. It's been done in the past, but we feel we can do what needs to be done," Hutchens said.

"I think we have five good people," he said.

Hutchens told the committee that they would like to have the screening process finished by the end of October.

"We would like to have it as soon as possible," Jayne Novak said.

Hutchens told the committee that the council developed their list of qualifications by using the same questionnaire that a firm the city hired in 2006 to locate city manager candidates used.

He said that all five of the council members filed out the questionnaires earlier this summer and they had Julie Lewis, city clerk, summarize their answers to come up with a list of qualifications.

"We want those that fill those qualifications. Then we will take them and screen them," Hutchens said.

Novak said that they would like for the committee to get the number of applications down to 10 or 15 with the top five or seven candidates identified.

"If one of those don't fit, we can look at the rest of the 10 or 15," Novak said.

Flynn told the council that he thought that they would eliminate half of the applications on the second read-through.

"The best predictor of future success is past performance," Flynn said.

When the council gets down to the final three to five candidates Hutchens said that he would like to do more than just background checks on them.

"When we get to the finalists there is a possibility that we will go to the town he is from.

"There is some cost involved, but if it saves problems down the road it's worth it," he said.

He told the committee members that it is very important to maintain the confidentiality of all of the applicants until they get down to the finalist they want to interview, and at that time they will make their names public.

"We want to maintain that confidentiality as long as possible," Hutchens said.

He said that by the time they reach the finalist stage they should have informed their current employer.

Hutchens said that one important factor is to have a candidate who can work well with the council and other people and has a thick skin.

"We really want a candidate with proven experience -- someone who will come here and stay for five years," he said.