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After giving staff direction to prepare a formal resolution to work with the consulting firm GovHR during its last meeting two weeks ago, the Marshalltown city council opted to hold off on doing so Monday night as some members believe the right candidate may have already applied.
Interim City Administrator Robert Fagen, who was signed on for a maximum of three months when he took the position in May, confirmed that his last day was June 29, so Mayor Joel Greer will assume the duties until the position is filled in lieu of another interim hire.
On Monday night, Fagen reported that 13 total candidates had applied, and 11 were still interested after they had been notified of the potential hiring of a search firm. Councilor Barry Kell spoke up and noted that while he was a vocal advocate for using a consultant previously, he believed the council should take a closer look at some of the current applicants.
"Truthfully, my position hasn't changed on (using a consultant). What has changed is the committee was appointed, met last week, went through resumes, (and) based on criteria, deemed a number of them viable to move forward," Kell said. "Looking at the timeline proposed by GovHR, it's a 13 to 14 week multi-phase process. Looking at where we are with the committee's work, we're probably in phase two or maybe even phase three with the work they've done. I would like at this point to offer the motion to table this for two to four weeks (and) allow them to work that process. In a 13 to 14 week overall process, I don't think two weeks is going to set us back too much -- or four weeks -- and we may have the candidate we need already."
A motion to table the hiring of GovHR was carried by a 5-2 vote, with Jeff Schneider and Gary Thompson opposed. A special council meeting was held Thursday night with a vote on health insurance premiums for city employees and a possible closed session discussion related to the city administrator hiring process. Because Walker and Schneider were absent, a unanimous vote was required to go into closed session, and a motion to do so failed when Thompson dissented from the other four councilors present.
The contract with GovHR would cost the city approximately $24,500.
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Contact Robert Maharry
at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or
rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.