Columbia city manager search might take four months

A search for a new city manager in Columbia could take between two and four months, according to the firms vying for the job.

The details come in handouts city staff gave the Columbia City Council on Monday night. ABC 17 News made a records request for the documents, despite the bids themselves being closed records because of Missouri state records laws.

The summary of the bids shows that the nine firms would spend at least nine weeks on the search and as many as 17 weeks.

Council members plan to rank their top three or four firms for the job this week. Representatives of those companies will come to Columbia on Jan. 3 for interviews with the council in a four-hour closed-door meeting.

The nine firms that bid for the job are:

CPS HR Consultants Management Partners The Novak Consulting Group Strategic Government Resources EFL Associates Serpico Talent Solutions Springsted/Waters Slavin Management Consultants​​​​​​​ GovHR USA

Of the nine firms, city council members agreed that two of them would not be considered. Serpico Talent Solutions gave a “non-responsive” bid, while EFL Associates’ cost was nearly three times that of the other seven firms.

Those seven firms have an average cost of $23,959 for their work. That does not include incidental costs, such as reimbursement for candidate travel, advertising or background checks on city manager candidates.

The city hired Slavin Management Consultants in 2008 to help find a new police chief, ending in the hiring of Ken Burton. The memo said that the same team would work again for the city to find the city manager, if selected.

Several city council members said on Monday that they had three front-runners in mind, but those choices varied from member to member. Council members Clyde Ruffin, Michael Trapp and Matt Pitzer said they were interested in Management Partners, the firm that helped Independence find a city manager in 2016.

Independence mayor Eileen Weir told ABC 17 News that she was satisfied with the firm’s work for the city.

Mayor Brian Treece did not specify which firms he was interested in, but said he wanted to hire a firm that has done this work before.

“What I’m looking for is a search firm that has some experience in city manager search processes, and that preferably has some experience in Missouri,” Treece told ABC 17 News on Monday.