City to pare down manager resumes

Julie Krueger, interim city manager, will serve as the staff member on the panel.

“The goal is to take that group of people and narrow the list down to five or six finalists,” she said.

The council began the search for a new manager in October.

The position was vacated with the Sept. 14 firing of Nolan Young, who had served in the job for 18 years.

Krueger said Slavin Management Consultants will already have vetted semi-finalists by the time their applications are reviewed by the committee.

The firm based in Georgia received 39 resumes and is now in the process of eliminating some candidates after contacting references, conducting telephone interviews and gathering information in a supplemental questionnaire.

Within a month after the council winnows down the list — the timeline factors in the holidays — Krueger expects the finalists to be personally interviewed. She said the council has not yet decided what that process will look like, or if a social event will be held so community members can meet at least the top two contenders.

“There are a lot of options for the council to consider,” she said.

Paul Wenbert, western regional manager for Slavin, is the point person in The Dalles search.

The company was hired in October for $21,253 to find qualified people for the chief role at a salary range of $105,000-$120,000.

Mayor Steve Lawrence told the council the advantage of going with a search group instead of city officials trying to do their own recruiting was that objective specialists would be vetting candidates.

He said Slavin would also perform extensive background checks to weed out people who were not qualified for the post.

Kruger said the salary and terms of employment will be negotiated by the council with the candidate they decide to offer the job to.

Although the council does not have a meeting in late December due to the holidays, Krueger said officials have stated their willingness to convene a special meeting if need be to move the selection process along.

The city charter decrees that a new manager must be brought onboard within six months, which would be mid-March in this case.

However, Gene Parker, city attorney, said the process could be extended if necessary by appointing an interim manager for a specific period of time.

Slavin was chosen out of three companies applying to lead the search and gave a timeline of six months or less to have a handful of final candidates chosen.