November 24, 2005

By By Robert Mihalek

The three finalists for the Village manager’s job will come to Yellow Springs over the weekend of Dec. 9–11 to interview with Village Council and participate in a public forum, when local residents can meet and ask questions of the candidates.

If all goes as planned, Council could identify its next top administrator by Sunday, Dec. 11.

Jocelyn Hardman, who was elected the president of Council during its meeting on Monday, said Council’s objective is to hire a manager by the end of Sunday.

“We hope to walk away at the end of the weekend with our new manager identified,” she said.

Al Schlueter, the chairman of the Village Manager Search Committee, said that the three finalists have accepted the Village’s offer to interview for the manager’s post.

Council and the search committee, which has been leading the selection process, are seeking a manager to replace Rob Hillard, who resigned in September.

Here’s an overview of the schedule, based on an interview last week with Schlueter, a schedule proposed by the search committee and the few comments Council members made during their meeting on Monday:

Friday, Dec. 9
The candidates will be given tours of Yellow Springs and Village facilities in the afternoon of Dec. 9.

At 7 p.m. a public forum will take place at the Bryan Community Center, followed by an informal meet-and-greet gathering at which Yellow Springers can talk to the candidates.

During the forum, each candidate will give a brief statement and will respond to questions from the search committee as well as questions from the audience. Each finalist will have a half hour to talk and answer questions, Schlueter said. Fred Bartenstein has agreed to moderate the forum.

Villagers at the forum will be able to fill out evaluation forms for each of the candidates. Council will have a chance to review the evaluations before interviewing the candidates the next day, Schlueter said.

Saturday, Dec. 10
Council and the search committee will get started at 8:30 a.m. with a work session to discuss the candidates, including the results of background and reference checks that members of the search committee are conducting, Schlueter said.

Each candidate will interview with Council for an hour, beginning at 9 a.m. Schlueter said the search committee will be present for the interviews. Following the interviews, Council and the committee will hold a debriefing session.

After a break for lunch, Council members will reconvene the meeting.

Sunday, Dec. 11
Council and the search committee begin meeting again on Sunday, at 10 a.m.

The schedule prepared by the search committee suggests that Council will interview one or more finalists for the job. During its meeting on Monday, Council did not discuss how it will determine who it will interview for a second time on Sunday.

After another debriefing session between Council and the search committee and a break for lunch, the schedule says that Council will select the manager at a meeting at 2 p.m., and negotiate a contract with that person.

Council member Bruce Rickenbach, who is also a member of the search committee, said he assumed that meetings on Saturday and Sunday will be held in executive session, which is not open to the public. Council will have to make the actual selection of a manager in open session.

Schlueter said the search committee wants the schedule to be flexible, in case Council needs more time to interview candidates.

He also said the committee created the schedule during two meetings this month. The committee based the schedule on the process the Village used in 2000, when Hillard was hired, he said.

During Monday’s meeting, Judith Hempfling, who was sworn in as a Council member that night, lobbied to build time into the schedule to allow for more community input into the selection process. She suggested that the process include time for local residents to talk to Council members after Friday’s forum.

“I feel very strongly that it would be useful to talk as a community” about the candidates, she said.

Hardman said she preferred “to follow the schedule as the search committee has arranged it.”

Council member Mary J. Alexander, who is a member of the search committee, said that Hempfling “can’t wait until the 11th hour” and attempt to change the process. “You should have said something when you had the opportunity,” she said, referring to the search committee’s open meetings.

The finalists for the manager’s job are:
• Teddy C. Ryan Jr., who has served as the borough manager of Columbia, Penn., since 2003. He also has been the manager or administrator in eight other communities, including Sebring, Ohio, 2000–03; Riverside, 1998–2000; New Lebanon, 1994–98; Stoneham, Mass., 1989–92; Ocoee, Fla., 1986–88; Green Cove Springs, Fla., 1984–86; Clovis, N.M., 1982–83; and Trinidad, Colo., 1979–81. He has a master of public administration from the University of Kansas and a BS in business administration from Old Dominion University.

• James C. Smith, who has served as the city manager of Newport, R.I., since 2002. Smith has been the city manager in six other communities, including Draper, Utah, 1998–2002; Hudson, Ohio, 1994–98; New Rochelle, N.Y., 1992–93; Concord, N.H., 1979–92; Berlin, N.H., 1973–78; and New Carlisle, 1971–73. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration/economics from Miami University and a master’s in governmental administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Graduate School.

• Eric C. Swansen of Jackson Hole, Wyo., who worked as the city manager of Farmersville, Calif., from 2003 to 2004. He has also been a senior management analyst with the city of Shoreline, Wash., from 1998 to 2003; a senior management analyst with the community development department for Deschutes County, Ore., from 1994 to 1998; and a management analyst in the public works department of Lacy, Wash. He has a master of public administration from the University of Washington and a BA in political science from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash.

Schlueter said he was “really encouraged” by his conversations with the three candidates. “They all seem very personable,” he said.

During Council’s meeting Monday, villager Stan Bernstein said that it seemed the three candidates changed jobs in “short hops,” and he asked if that is something the Village is seeking in a manager.

Schlueter said that while he shared Bernstein’s concern, the search committee was told “not to take a series of [career] moves as a negative,” if the moves advanced a person’s career.

Ryan, Smith and Swansen were selected for interviews out of a pool of 120 applicants, 19 of which were selected by the search committee to receive further consideration.

Those 19 candidates were provided with information about Yellow Springs and the Village government, a statement on the challenges facing the community and a description of the ideal Village manager, and were asked to tell the search committee how his or her personality and experiences meet the challenge statement and manager profile. Thirteen candidates responded to this request.

The search committee used each candidate’s responses, as well as his qualifications, experience and education, to assign a ranking to the applicants. Based on those rankings, the committee recommended that Council invite three finalists to Yellow Springs for interviews.

Interim Village Manager Phil Hawkey, who applied for the manager’s job but was not offered an interview, said in a statement that he concurs with the search committee’s recommendation that Council interview Ryan, Smith and Swansen.

“I have no desire to re-enter the process at this time,” Hawkey wrote in his “Manager’s Report” for Monday’s meeting. “We need the most capable and experienced leadership we can find, and we need to fill the manager’s position as soon as possible.”

In addition to Schlueter, Alexander and Rickenbach, the Village Manager Search Committee includes Public Works Foreman Kelly Fox, Police Chief John Grote, police dispatcher Randall Newsome, Village Finance Director Sharon Potter and villagers Tom Haugsby and Len Kramer.

Contact: rmihalek@ysnews.com