Bristol, Va., city officials should quickly hire a professional consultant to shepherd the search for a new city manager, following a recent pattern set with hiring new city department heads.
City Manager Bill Dennison recently announced plans to retire at the end of the year. That’s five months to find the best person possible to be Bristol’s chief executive. As with recent searches for city department heads, council should hire a professional firm to coordinate the search for the city.
Gone are the days when council could ask around in local business circles and find a person to take the job. Certainly, Bristol has talented, qualified people who are skilled leaders. But to guarantee that the city is making its choice from a large pool of qualified applicants, it should go with a professional firm that specializes in this field.
So far, the city has had a good professional relationship with Springsted, a firm based in Richmond. We urge council to seek requests for proposals to do this work from professionals firms, Spingsted included.
Last week, Mayor Jim Rector urged the council to hire a consultant. He reminded members that he served on council when the group did a national search for a city manager without the help of a consultant, what he called “a long, tedious process.”
Some members seemed to lament the possible cost of going with a professional firm, but we say Bristol needs to invest in getting the right person at the top. It was the right thing to invest in searches for other department heads and it is the right thing to invest in a search for the top administrator.
City Council has five months to find a new chief executive. That leaves no time for mistakes or missteps. They need the best qualified person possible to come on board by year’s end. The only way to do that is go with a professional firm that will conduct a national search, review qualifications and deliver a list of potential candidates for council to consider.
Council has set aside $25,000 to spend on the search, a smart move. Several members, including Councilman Fred Bowman, seemed to be leaning toward hiring a firm when the council met in called session Thursday.
They will gather again Tuesday to discuss the search in more detail. We urge the council to devise a plan then use a professional firm for the search.
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