November 3, 2005

By Robert Mihalek

The Village Manager Search Committee will recommend that Council interview three candidates for the top administrative job with the Village, the committee’s chairman, Al Schlueter, said this week.

Schlueter said the committee will recommend that Council invite these three candidates to Yellow Springs for interviews and a public event at which the community could meet the candidates. He said he planned to present Council with the committee’s recommendation during Council’s next meeting, on Monday, Nov. 7.

The three candidates were selected out of a pool of 13 remaining applicants.

Interim Village Manager Phil Hawkey, who applied for the permanent position of manager, is not among the three candidates being recommended by the search committee.

When asked about the committee’s recommendation, Hawkey referred to a memo he sent to the Village staff, in which he said, “I want everyone to know that I respect the process established by the selection committee, and accept their decision without reservation or hard feelings of any sort. I appreciate the efforts of the committee members and understand the difficulty of their task.”

A new manager is needed to replace Rob Hillard, who resigned in September after nearly five years with the Village.

The decision to recommend three candidates for Council to consider at this point marks a change in what committee members had said would be the process to select a new manager. In early October, committee members said that they expected the committee to conduct phone interviews with a larger number of applicants, and then narrow the list of candidates who would receive formal interviews with Council and the committee and meet with the community.

Schlueter said the search committee, during its regular meeting on Nov. 26, decided not to conduct the phone interviews and, instead, recommend that Council bring the three applicants to Yellow Springs for in-person interviews. He said a “majority of the committee” supported the decision to take this course of action.

He said through its ranking system the committee members scored the three recommended candidates “considerably higher” than the other applicants. Based on those rankings, Schlueter said, committee members thought there was “little to be gained” by conducting phone interviews with more candidates.

The committee’s amended course also speeds up the process of hiring a new manager, Schlueter said.

Schlueter would not reveal the names of the three candidates, saying that it was the search committee’s decision not to release the candidates’ identities publicly yet. He described the three candidates as being from out of state, older and experienced.

He said the committee needed to inform Council and the three candidates of its recommendations before the applicants’ identities could be made public. Council needs to have an opportunity to read the applicants’ resumes and written material and provide the committee with feedback, he said.

Schlueter said he plans to present to Council the search committee’s recommendation and urge Council to review the committee’s process, review the candidates’ resumes and statements and decide whether the three candidates are acceptable or whether Council wants to interview more candidates.

He said the committee members informed by letter the three candidates of their recommendations.

The search committee and Council still need to devise how they will proceed with the selection process. Committee members have said they expect the final applicants to interview with Council and participate in a public event at which community members could meet the candidates. Schlueter said the search committee thinks the interviews could take place between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The Village received 120 applications for the manager’s job. The committee then narrowed that list to 19 people, who were sent information on Yellow Springs and the Village government, a statement on the challenges facing the community and a description of the ideal Village manager. Each candidate was asked to tell the committee how his or her personality and experiences meet the challenge statement and manager profile.

Thirteen candidates responded to this request. The committee ranked each candidate based on his or her response to the challenge statement and manager profile as well as his or her qualifications, including experience and education, Schlueter said. These rankings helped the committee focus on three candidates.

Committee members ranked the candidates by using 12 categories, based on a scale of five (“excellent”) to one (“unsatisfactory”). The 12 categories range from judging a candidate’s “compatibility with the village’s values” to his or her personal qualities. The list is based on qualities identified in the ideal manager description and from feedback from the community, Schlueter has said.

Contact: rmihalek@ysnews.com