By Pauline Masson –
In the fastest and easily the most decisive act of their terms of office, the freshmen board of aldermen snapped up former city administrator Harold Selby on Tuesday to serve as city administrator for up to a year while they search for a replacement for Steve Roth, who leaves the post Aug. 11.
Mayor Heather Filley quickly approved the appoinment.
The action came after Selby reached out to the mayor and aldermen saying he had invested much of his government career in Pacific and he thought he should step up and help in any way he could.
As Missouri House District 105 representative, it was Selby’s bill that annexed the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center to Pacific and the sales tax that came with it. He passed the bill that allowed Pacific to pass the Tourism Tax, and he secured the tax credits for the Senior Center.
When former governor Bob Holden visited Pacific, he told the story of working long hours into the evening to hammer out the tax credit bill for senior centers and when he came out of his office, well after dark, there was Selby – who had been pestering him for days for the tax credits – on the bench outside his office waiting to see if Pacific’s senior center would get its tax credits.
As Pacific city administrator, Selby state connections enabled him to secure milions of dollars in grants to help fund Liberty Field, water and wastewater improvements, streets and sidewalks.
“I remember one cold rainy day looking out my office window and seeing a person in a wheelchair trying to get from the grocery store to the Cedars. There were no sidewalks and Osage was two lanes with a turn lane in the middle.,” he said. “We fixed that.”
The decision to contract with Selby came with rare speed during Tuesday’s board meeting. With Selby present, several aldermen said they had already spoken with him and thought he could walk in and just have to be updated to bring him up to speed on current city projects.
For his part, Selby was his trademark affable. He pulled out alll the stops in recognizing people he had worked with Alderman Kelley (then city collector) and City Clerk Kim Barfeld.
He recalled Assistant police chief Locke and Public Works Commissioner Robert Brueggemann as boys when he first met them. He recalled the personalities and styles of aldermen he had worked with here and said he was eager to help current aldermen have their day in the sun.
Several aldermen said they had already talked with Selby and thought an interim experienced administrator would allow more time for the board to conduct a thorough search.
Alderman Debbie Kelley pushed to move quickly and bring Selby on board.
“He could pick up and get going. He’d be a plus for city,” Kelley said. “There would be no burdon on us or the staff.”
Mayor Heather Filley, who by ordinance must approve the board of aldermen’s appointment for the positioin, quickly signalled that she favored Selby’s appointent.
“He’d be a good fit,” the mayor said. “I’d love to a decision made tonight and enter into an interim agreement with Mr. Selby. “
In a unanimous decision, aldermen voted to appoint Selby to the position and the mayor approved the appointment.
“I gladly approve the appointment as our interim city administrator,” Mayor Filley said. “And Attorney Bob Jones will draft a contract.”
Jones said he would talk with Selby bring his salary request back to board.
Scott Lesh, acting president of the board said the BOA should put the city administrator search on hold and give the administrative committee time to develop the process for the searh and bring it back to the board.
In a Wednesday morning telephone interview, Selby said he was grateful that the aldermen had put their faith in him and looked forward to working with the new board of aldermen.
“It going to be their legacy now,” he said. “I wish I was there today.”
Good to have him back He did much for Our Community and really helped getting the Senior Center
This is a wise and thoughtful decision by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen. I would hope that maybe the search for a new administrator need not be pursued any further. Why not offer this gentleman the position permanently? I don’t know if he has any interest in that but at least I hope the idea should be offered to him for his consideration.