By Pauline Masson –
Aldermen heard last week that SGR, the search firm hired to aid in attracting a new city administrator, had submitted 30 candidates for the position to Alderman James Cleeve along with instructions that prompted Mr. Cleeve to tell his fellow aldermen that they were going to have to change the way they have been conducting the search.
Some Hometown Matters readers stress that finding a new city administrator is the single most important thing the current board of aldermen (BOA can do for the city.
The city has been without a city administrator, or full time professional manager, since the resignation of interim administrator Harold Selby in May 2024.
The BOA assigned the Administrative Committee with the mission to plan the search. The Committee and full BOA advertised for applicants, which resulted in 30 applicants. One offer of the job was made but no agreement was reached.
The administrative committee then asked the BOA to hire an executive search firm to attract candidates. On March 18, 2025 the BOA approved an agreement that stipulated that a 27 page Proposal, describing the scope of work the firm would complete, was included as part of the agreement.
Little has been reported to the public in the nine weeks since the agreement was approved but apparently Mr. Cleeve has been in discussions with the firm. On July 15, he reported on his discussions with SRG and what the aldermen needed to do to meet the stipulations in the proposal and agreement.
The city paid SGR $28,500 the base fee for the search, as outlined in the proposal, and included $20,000 in the 2026 budget for additional fees. But the proposal that SGR submitted included many thousands of dollars in extra charges that may be incurred in the process of the search.
The proposal was included in the March 18, 2025 BOA meeting packet and can be read on-line or downloaded from the city’s web page.
Mr. Cleeve appears to be the only city leader in contact with SGR since March, in what would seem to be unilateral action. He said during the July 15 board of aldermen (BOA) meeting that his administrative committee had not met but he had been in contact with SGR and described the qualifications of the 30 applicants.
It may not matter that Mr. Cleeve’s communication with the search firm seems to be unilateral action that was accepted silently by the other aldermen. It is being reported here now because the SGR Proposal contains a litany of actions the search firm expects to take in the coming weeks – along with a list of extra charges for SGR participation.
This should worry anyone who is already concerned that aldermen could not find enough revenue to balance the 2026 budget and the aldermen and the mayor asked department heads to curb spending in the early months of the 2026 budget. Rather than turn the applications over to the BOA and allow them to review candidates, SGR expects to instruct aldermen on how to review the applications and charge for their time in doing so.
Mr. Cleeve said he had received instructions from SGR on the steps the city would have to take and city actions were going to have to change. Those were not made public.
“SGR sent us a list of next steps, and for us to take these next steps we’re going to have to change the way we have been doing this,” he said.
He laid out a list of activities that he wanted the full BOA to follow, without mentioning the possible additional cost included in the SGR proposal. These charges are itemized in the SGR proposal along with a detailed list of what the city (the BOA) is expected to do and what the firm will charge for SGR’s participation in each step. ________________________________________________________________________________
FROM THE PROPOSAL:
Online interviews over and above the 15 included in the Fixed Fee – $250 per candidate.
Additional comprehensive stage 2 media reports over and above the maximum of five included in the fixed price above – $750 per candidate.
Additional background investigation reports over and above the maximum of five included in the fixed price above – $500 per candidate.
Additional reference checks over and above the maximum of five (5) included in the fixed price above – $250 per candidate.
DISC Management assessments – $175 per candidate.
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It is clear in the SGR proposal that rather than turn the applications over to the BOA – or to Mr. Cleeve’s full committee – and allow aldermen to make the selection on their own, the firm expects to be in meetings and participate with aldermen in the process and charge for their time in each step.
“SGR will conduct a comprehensive presentation to the Search Committee and facilitate the selection of semifinalist” the proposal says.
In order to get the process started, Mr. Cleeve asked the BOA to send a a formal request to SGR to provide the candidate information to the full board, which they did July15.
“They (SGR) have set up a meeting for next week… to go over applicants and select semifinalist,” Mr. Cleeve said.
“So what I would like to do is, I would like to get the information on each of the candidates mailed out to the alderman, put it on a shared folder,”he said, “so we could all look at it and be ready to set up a meeting the week after next to go through the applicants and come up with semi finalists.
“And then we do background checks, references, and all that kind of stuff and then schedule on-site interviews,” he said.
A special BOA meeting is scheduled for Monday July 28 at 7 p.m. There are only two items on the agenda, public participation and a closed session for a meeting with the SGR representative.
Surely im just not understanding, but we arent paying some company to conduct interviews are we?
You have to read the lengthy, super wordy, proposal that aldermen agreed to. But it appeared to this reader that the search firm intends to be there during interaction with candidates to make sure aldermen understand what the candidates are saying – and charge for their time in doing so.
Another ‘double secret’ closed session to keep any meaningful information from the public, those paying the bill. That way they can tell us what they want us to hear; which may not be the exact truth.
Monday ,7-28, before double secret closed session, Mayor Silley states that it is her task to select the top three choices.
Hope she brought along enough white gloves for everyone to avoid blisters from all the coin flipping.