The City Manager’s Report for the March 26 city council meeting indicates several things:
- There are two remaining candidates for the position of finance director. (There were initially four.)
- The council must make a decision to either set an interview time and date, or to readvertise the position.
- If the council chooses to readvertise, staff is recommending (again) that the qualifications be changed to do away with the requirement for a college degree, provided the candidate has “progressively responsible experience.”
So many questions spring to mind.
- What happened to the other two candidates? Were they eliminated as part of the hiring process or did they remove themselves?
- Will the council move forward with one of the two existing candidates?
- Will the council readvertise in an attempt to expand the field of candidates?
- Why would the council, in this period of widespread unemployment, opt to ease the requirements for the job? Wouldn’t it stand to reason that, with more people searching for work, our council has room to be stringent in its requirements?
- Will our council choose transparency? Will they explain the things that have happened up to now, as well as the motives behind their decisions? Or will they stonewall?
- Will the council order an audit of the city’s finances in conjunction with the new hire? (It stands to reason that the new manager would like to inherit a clean set of books.)
We’ll be watching, and we hope you will too.