By Pauline Masson
After three months and some thirty applications for the position, the board of aldermen is starting a second attempt to recruit a new city administrator after reviewing and passing on a slate of applicants.
It is not as though nobody wants the job.
Some thirty applicants reached out to the city saying they would like to manage the city. Applicants included men and women, young and not-so-young, who have worked in cities both large and small. One applicant had the experience the city was seeking but that did not result in a new hire.
“Seventy-five percent of the applicants had experience with municipalities in some capacity (though not all as city administrators) and some had worked in more than one city,” Mayor Heather Filley said.
Reporting at the August 20 board meeting and in a telephone interview the mayor said the search for a new city administrator is still ongoing,
Of the 30 applications received thus far, the city operations committee reviewed all applications and selected the most promising candidates. The full board of aldermen selected ten candidates who were interviewed in Zoom meetings.
In person interviews were eventually held with two finalists and an offer was made to the final choice. The city made an offer to the selected candidate but in the back and forth discussions on the offer an agreement could not be reached, Mayor Filley said, which placed the search in a restart.
One of the reasons so many candidates were passed over was the minimum requirements that the city is looking for in a new city manager.
“We’re especially looking for someone with sewer and water experience,” the mayor said. “Since we operate our own sewer and water systems, we need an individual who has a background in sewer and water management.”
The second phase of the search is already ongoing. An additional eight applications have been received, which will be reviewed by the operations committee and forwarded to the full board of aldermen for follow-up.
The city has been without a city administrator since May 2 when interim administrator Harold Selby resigned ahead of the year that he had tentatively offered to serve.
Mayor Filley has since been serving as both mayor and city administrator.
Selby previously served as Pacific city administrator for nine years. He joined the city in 2006 after being term-limited out of the state legislature where he had represented Jefferson and Franklin counties in the 105th District from 1999 to 2005. He served as Pacific city administrator until June 30, 2014 when newly elected mayor Jeff Palmore did not reappoint him, opting instead to assume the duties of mayor and city administrator while the city searched for a new administrator.
Steve Roth was named city administrator in August 2016. He resigned the position in August 2023. Roth previously worked as city administrator in New Haven, where he had also previously worked as a journalist. In Pacific he served under four mayors, Jeff Palmore, Steve Myers, Herb Adams and Heather Filley.
Following Roth’s resignation, Selby offered to serve in the post for up to a year while the city searched for a new city administrator.
Both Roth and Selby chafed under the legislative styles of aldermen James Cleeve, ward two and Scott Lesh, ward three. Both legislators had run for their respective seats on a call for change following citizen unrest over the Manors at Brush Creek Subdivision on Lamar Parkway.
They were tensions with Selby over the budget, specifically over pay raises for all city employees that Selby proposed. They complained that Selby had not explained the source of the funds to maintain the higher personnel costs in the future. Following a public squabble, the pay raises were eventually approved.
Selby resigned saying the board seemed to want to go in a different direction.
Mayor Filley says nothing is slipping through the cracks in the absence of a city administrator but there is a definite need for a professional manager to oversee the day to day operations of the city.
As mayor and acting city administrator, the mayor said she is relying heavily on staff to help with administration of city business of their departments.
“They’re stretched pretty thin,” she said.
The mayor said she is hopeful that the next round of applications will produce a candidate that is right for the city.
“There are lots of projects,” she said. “We definitely need an administrator.”
As always Pacific continues to be in Reverse when all surrounding communities are in Fast Forward
If the city had narrowed down to 2 candidates, and the first choice didn’t work out, what happened to the second choice? Was that candidate pursued? Seems like that would be a logical course of action.
When the Mayor is not the biggest cheerleader for a City what do you expect? You have (6) chiefs who think they are the Mayor. How can any competent City Manager function in a swamp like this? When you elect a Mayor who has a clear vision for the City; the City Manager will capture that vision and lead the rest of the city employees who will learn that the team they are on is for EVERYONE.
The top choices were made offers, offers were negotiated, and turned done as to little .
Why, no available funds for such a important position, and why not. Could it be the $ 163,000
a year ‘albatross’ , for the next 16 + years, generated by Herbie and is gang, in three closed sessions several years back, to make a questionable extension of the City Hall expansion bond, for our glorious money pit.
The visitors center cost $ 103,000 a year to staff and operate, ok , if it accomplishes what it intent was ; to promote businesses and tourism in Pacific, yet to see any real positive result, but it has been only one year not much business promotion advertising seen at my last visit .
maybe our local shops and industrial plants could do a better job of self promotion.