City manager search to start over
JANESVILLE — The city probably won’t have a new manager in place before Steve Sheiffer retires Sept. 5, Council President Amy Loasching said.
Two finalists for the position didn’t impress city council members during Wednesday’s second round of interviews.
“After another night of healthy debate, we’ve instructed the (recruiting firm) to continue the search,” Loasching said. “But we don’t anticipate to be able to have a city manager selected by September.”
The council Wednesday afternoon met again with David Hales, the director of financial/administrative services in West Jordan, Utah, and with Donald Carlsen, the director of the management services businesses group in Naperville, Ill.
Both men had been interviewed earlier by a panel of community members and by the council.
The council Wednesday night discussed their impressions from the second round of interviews.
Loasching said nothing specific eliminated either of the men from consideration, although she said both the council and the community panel were split on whom to choose.
“Input from the community panel was divisive; the council was divided,” Loasching said.
So, it’s back to the drawing board.
PAR Group, the Illinois recruiting firm hired by the city for the manager search, will return to the 39 applications received in the first round of recruiting and advertising and look for potential candidates. Excluded, however, will be the five candidates the council interviewed and rejected.
Any applicants who withdrew their applications will be contacted to see if they now have an interest.
The council might meet with the recruiting firm in August. If not, Loasching said the council wouldn’t be worried.
Loasching said the firm will keep the council updated on the search, but she emphasized that there is no timeline for a decision.
“We sent the message that if (the firm) doesn’t have a minimum of three extremely qualified candidates, we don’t want to see them,” she said.
The hiring process will be the same.
Loasching said candidates will get initial interviews with the same community panel. Council members then will interview candidates, hear feedback from the community panel, invite candidates for second interviews and, if a candidate sticks out, visit the candidate’s community before making an offer.
“We value (the community panel’s) opinion, and we hope it will continue to help in the selection process,” Loasching said.
The council doesn’t feel pressure to fill the job before Sheiffer leaves in September, Loasching said.
If a new city manager isn’t in place by Sept. 5, the council has three options:
-- Hire an interim city manager.
-- Appoint a department head to act as interim city manager.
-- Leave the city manager position open and have department heads run the city.
“We want to make sure we’re not only confident in the person we choose but enthusiastic about them,” Loasching said.
“We know we’re not going to get a perfect fit, but we don’t want to settle.”
SEARCH TIMELINE
Jan. 28, 2008—City Manager Steve Sheiffer announces he will retire in September.
Feb. 25—City council hires Illinois-based PAR Group as hiring firm.
March 31—PAR Group accepts public input into what qualifies as a city manager.
April 8—Salary set for new manager at around $140,000, depending on experience.
June 22—Field narrowed from 39 applications to six candidates.
June 25—One of the six drops out, bringing the field to five.
June 30—Sheiffer solidifies retirement date as Sept. 5.
Friday—Council appoints community panel of eight residents to interview the candidates.
Monday and Tuesday—Round one of interviews with community panel and city council.
Wednesday—Second interviews for two finalists with city council. Council decides to start the process over.
August—Council plans to meet with PAR Group to review new candidates.
Sept. 5—Sheiffer scheduled to retire.
Jul 18, 2008 at 8:40 a.m.
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(This isn't a blog. It's a thread.)
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And Winzenz deserves to apply for the position as much as anyone, and to be considered alongside everyone else. I don't know of any reason why an internal candidate should not be eligible as long as basic requirements are met. Note that not even all the finalists have had city manager positions. Being a department head in a large community is certainly one way to get relevant experience.
Jul 18, 2008 at 8:01 a.m.
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Suzy 50: No to Jay Winzenz.
He's been with the city of Janesville for far more than three years, but that doesn't qualify him to be city manager. If he wanted that gig, he should have gone out somewhere else, gotten some real world experience as a city manager, then come back to apply with a resume that includes accomplishments rather than just serving at the feet of Steve Sheiffer and waiting him out.
The council should have let its consultant choose the finalists, then chosen from that group. Believe it or not, consultants in this business are often made up of people who have years of experience in government and know what it takes to be a city manager, and what talents and styles will work in what types of towns.
Jul 18, 2008 at 7:09 a.m.
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Jay Winzenz was on the panel, what ever happen to him? He should have been chosen a long time ago. He has been trained by the COJ for the past 3 years and then they turn him down for the position, what is wrong with this picture?
Jul 18, 2008 at 12:46 a.m.
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"What a joke these blogs have become"
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What was your first clue?
Jul 17, 2008 at 11:49 p.m.
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What a joke these blogs have become. Maybe it is the summer and everyone is outside, but important articles like this are ignored. No one has an opinion on this? The last 6 months were a waste of time.
Jul 17, 2008 at 2:34 p.m.
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For over twenty years the voters of Janesville, using the democratic process, have shown their approval for Steve Sheiffer by voting-in councilmembers who continually retained him as our city manager.
I understand the plus points of hiring an outsider for important city positions. But sometimes in-house is the way to go. (Note that one of the empty complaints about Sheiffer is that he's NOT from here. Which doesn't necessarily support the idea of hiring someone in-house, but instead shows the desperate need for some people to take pointless pot shots at him.) We'll see.
Jul 17, 2008 at 11:54 a.m.
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A writer in last night's Gazette suggested Tim Cullen for the City Manager position. This is an excellent idea. Tim knows as much or more about this city and its workings than just about anyone else. This "hometown boy" would truly have the good of Janesville and its residents in mind at all times.
Jul 17, 2008 at 11:29 a.m.
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Classic Hiring Mistakes
1) Rely on an outside search firm that "advertises" for candidates instead of proactively contacting the best that are not "looking".
2) Interview by large panel and allow a dissenting vote to rule out a great candidate everyone else loves. (No objective rating system).
3) Allowing interviewing to be primary selection tool. It's proven interviewing provides good hiring decision about 40-60% of the time. Let's say 50%. Making past performance the primary hiring tool allows an 80-90% success rate.
So far, the city council is 3 for 3 on hiring mistakes, and making the interviewing a beauty contest. Interview questions have been subjective and not compared evenly across all candidates.
Jul 17, 2008 at 10:52 a.m.
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the council is not going to find a puppet on a string that they are looking for
Jul 17, 2008 at 10:07 a.m.
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So the Community panel was "divisive". In other words, "creating disunity or dissension. Discordant, troublesome, disruptive and conflict riddled."
Sounds similar to the opinion our council member had a few months ago on other public opinion.
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