Meeting meant to encourage input and guide next steps in city manager search
The city of Healdsburg recently put out a city manager recruitment survey in order to glean input from residents on what they’d like to see in the next city manager. Now that survey results are in, the next step in the search for candidates will include a public town hall meeting in the first week of August to review survey results and to give folks an additional opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions on the subject.
The online survey, which was released in both English and Spanish, asked residents five questions:
- What are the four to five most important issues facing Healdsburg that the new city manager should help the city council to address?
- What are the most critical skills and experiences the new city manager should have to succeed in Healdsburg?
- What management and leadership attributes should the next city manager have?
- How would you like the city manager to interact with the community? Please consider the communication tools that respond best to your needs as a resident or a business owner.
- One of the many attributes of Healdsburg is its small-town character. If you were emphasizing this point with the city manager candidates, please tell us what “small town character” means to you, so that this sense can be effectively conveyed to the candidates.
Interim city manager, Dave Kiff, said the aim of the survey was to ask residents to weigh in on the kinds of qualities that they would like to see in the next manager.
The survey results were released this afternoon, July 13, and the overwhelming response from residents was that they want a city manager who is bilingual (preferably in Spanish), accountable, transparent, approachable, patient, communicative, empathetic, unbiased and accessible.
Respondents also cited the need for time management skills, experience handling a city budget and a willingness to listen.
One survey respondent added that a city manager should be passionate about engaging with the community and working effectively and collaboratively with city staff.
Many recognized affordable housing, racism, inequality, COVID-19, economic diversity and homelessness as some of the top problems facing Healdsburg.
In terms of how folks would like to see communication from the city manager, several residents pointed towards bilingual updates, social media updates, town halls, round table chats, videos, Q&A’s and a regular “state of the city” addresses, as means for transparent communication and local outreach.
Now armed with the results from the questionnaire, the position recruiter — Gary Phillips of Bob Murray & Associates — will use the information to advise the candidates and aid in the decision-making process.
“The recruiter uses the survey results to advise the candidates. The candidates can read it themselves and the potential candidates (can view it) to make sure it’s the right fit for the candidate and the right fit for Healdsburg,” Kiff said. Candidate applications are due July 26.
Phillips will also review the results at the August meeting, which Kiff said will either take place on Aug. 3 alongside the regular city council meeting, or on Aug. 4.
The next discussion point is after the third or fourth of August when the recruiter comes back with a binder typically full of tiers of candidates according to Kiff.
“Let’s say 60 different people apply, the recruiter will have a list of say the top 20… and then the council looks at that and decides who they are going to interview based on that,” Kiff explained, noting that oftentimes they’ll interview anywhere between three to 12 people.
Once an applicant is selected after various rounds of interviews, Kiff said that the transition from an interim manager to a city manager can take time.
“Usually the way it works is it will kind of depend on the candidate. If, for instance, it’s someone who’s already a staff member of Healdsburg maybe promoting up, then the transition is much shorter. But if it’s someone who is a city manager elsewhere that is currently employed that needs to give his or her employer notice and maybe physically move his or her family and a person is picked, it can take 60 days or more,” he said.
To view the survey results in their entirety, visit: https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/992/City-Manager-Recruitment
