Oak Ridge Council picks Illinois firm to find new city manager
Oak Ridge City Council members quickly and unanimously on Wednesday afternoon chose GovHR USA to help them in the search for a new city manager.
Based in Northbrook, Illinois, the executive search firm in its proposal said the cost to the city would be $23,500, which council member Ellen Smith called a bargain considering all the company's representatives will be doing as part of the recruitment and screening of candidates. Council member Charlie Hensley said there would be additional costs.
City Manager Mark Watson plans to retire May 5.
On Tuesday night, council members interviewed representatives from the three companies they'd selected as finalists from the field of seven companies that had applied for the job. The other two firms were BakerTilly US, based in Plano, Texas, and Strategic Government Resources in Kellar, Texas. Their proposed contract costs: $26,950 and $24,900, respectively. The seven initial companies ranged from $8,000 to $50,000.
Each online interview Tuesday lasted for 30 minutes with the company representatives answering several questions supplied to them by council prior to the interview, as well as impromptu questions from each of the seven members.
"They scratched where we itched," said council member Derrick Hammond in describing how GovHR President Heidi Voorhees and Senior Vice President Lane Bailey, who will lead the search, answered the questions.
"It was impressive and sincere," Mayor Warren Gooch said of their presentation. He pointed out that GovHR also got the most votes when the council selected the three finalists earlier this month.
The questions asked of the companies representatives ranged from how they would maintain confidentiality for the candidates while obeying Tennessee's open meetings and open records laws calling for all actions and discussions on governmental matters by public officials be open to the public - to what they saw as being unique about Oak Ridge.
The GovHR officials said they would work with the open meetings and open records laws as they had in states where such laws are perhaps more strict. They said they would keep the candidates' confidentiality as long they could but the candidates would be advised of the law and that their identities would be made known and their interviews with council would be done in the public. Search firm representatives have said some city manager candidates don't want their current employers to know they are applying for another job.
As far as the uniqueness of Oak Ridge, Bailey repeatedly during the interview and in the preliminary interviews in February pointed out that he grew up in nearby North Carolina and knows about Oak Ridge.
What's next?
Council will vote on a contract with GovHR at its April monthly meeting. Voorhees during the interview that a calendar would be put together of their future plans. Those plans will include interviewing the council members one-on-one to determine what they want in a city manager, as well as finding out what members of the community want.
The Oak Ridger's News Editor Donna Smith covers Oak Ridge area news. Email her at dsmith@oakridger.com and follow her on Twitter@ridgernewsed. Support The Oak Ridger by subscribing Offers available at https://subscribe.oakridger.com/offers.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge Council picks Illinois firm to find new city manager
