Citizen Search Committee?

When the university needs to fill an upper-level job, such as a program director or a dean, it forms a search committee drawn from across the campus community. Members serve without pay.

I wonder why something like that, a Citizen Search Committee, can't be put together to look for a new city manager.

This is not exactly an original idea, as others in the blogosphere have also suggested it, but I'm surprised that the idea hasn't gotten more traction since three of the Council members are university employees and well-acquainted with this process.

Let's face it--there's a huge mismatch between what the city wants in terms of a city manager and what it's willing to do for a new city manager, both in terms of compensation and in terms of providing backing and direction.

We can at least cut our losses by not spending a lot of money on a search firm.

One of the problems with this and past Councils is that it isn't creative enough in spending money. By that I mean that the city doesn't enter into contracts that have both incentives and penalties. We are good at giving things away but not so good at holding people accountable.

In this case, the Council, if it should decide to spend money on a search firm, should insist that the search firm pay back its fee if the new city manager doesn't last for, say, at least two years.

What kind of search firm would take on that kind of an assignment? Only one that would be willing to work very, very hard to earn its money.

Otherwise the city should save its money, and the Council should do its own legwork.