Columbia City Council to hire search firm in hunt to replace city manager

At a special meeting Monday, the Columbia City Council directed human resources manager Margrace Buckler to put out a call for search firms that will assist in the city’s mission to hire a new city manager to replace Mike Matthes.

In the last decade or so, the city has used two different firms to hire two different city managers. Buckler said she will put out a request for proposals by Wednesday of this week, and City Council members will be narrowing down their choices by Dec. 17.

“I think it behooves us all to start moving as expeditiously as we can and move with some urgency,” said Ward 5 Councilman Matt Pitzer.

Pitzer in particular was anxious to get things moving quickly and suggested the council choose the firm by its first meeting of the year, Jan. 7.

Council members agreed and plan to have a firm in mind by that date.

According to Buckler, the city manager search that spanned six months between Oct. 2010 and March 2011 cost $20,000 initially, with an expense cost that did not exceed $6,000. In 2005, an entirely different firm cost $24,000 total.

Mayor Brian Treece said Monday that the city has directed interim City Manager John Glascock to make sure Matthes’ severance and the search firm costs come out of the city manager’s operating budget.

“Just one of those costs of doing business and what we need to incur to find that next city manager,” he said.

Buckler said she couldn’t answer whether using a search firm would mean the candidates would be better, but she impressed upon the council that a firm would have certain expertise and resources that the city does not, including the ability to do thorough background investigations.

“I would tell you the executive search firms have their pool of people and they have access to people who are actively looking,” she said. “They have lots of contacts where they will go and do a lot more networking.”

The search firms will also have to prove that they are up to scratch on the city’s scope of services that will be required in the search for a new city manager.

Those would including developing a comprehensive position profile based on input from the council, staff and civic partners on what skills they’d like to see in the person who holds the position.

The search firm is also responsible for negotiating a salary and other contract stipulations, according to the scope of services from the search seven years ago.

Ward 2 Councilman Mike Trapp said he wants to see someone who not only has the professional experience to be able to manage a large city, but also someone with a “high degree of cultural competence.”

“(Someone) to be able to address the diverse people and to bring in where everyone in Columbia has the opportunity to thrive and feels included in city government,” he said.

Pitzer leaned toward focusing on someone with strong management and organizational experience.

The next city manager will have the opportunity to put together a team of individuals in a number of key positions,” he said. “I want to see somebody who has a demonstrated track record of hiring important people around them and being able to show success from those individuals in their performance and management.”

“We’re still going to take the time to thoroughly vet our search firms and then also involve the public in what is the scope of services in regards to the qualifications we look for in a city manager,” said Trapp. “We’re going to look for a robust public involvement through every step of that process but we’re also going to move forward deliberately to not have this be a vacancy in leadership.”