December 8, 2005

EDITORIALS

Input crucial for manager search

Yellow Springers should not pass up the chance to participate this weekend in the selection of the next Village manager. As many local residents as possible should attend the public forum for the manager candidates, where they can provide Village Council with input on which applicant they think is the best fit for Yellow Springs.

The forum, scheduled to take place Friday, Dec. 9, beginning at 7 p.m., at the Bryan Community Center, provides villagers with their best opportunity to participate in the selection process. After giving a statement, each candidate will respond to questions from the Village Manager Search Committee and the audience. In an effort to provide Council with instant feedback, a half hour was added to the forum for audience members to talk about the applicants, who will not be present. Community members will also be asked to fill out evaluation forms for each candidate. The forum will be followed by an informal meet-and-greet gathering with the candidates.

The selection process also includes a busy schedule of interviews with the candidates, Council and the search committee on Saturday, Dec. 10, and Sunday, Dec. 11, if needed. By Sunday, Council hopes to have identified the Village’s next manager.

Local residents should make a good showing at Friday’s forum, not only to let the candidates know that villagers care about this process, but also to help Council make its hiring decision. The feedback local residents provide could sway Council’s selection. Community members who attend such events also help keep public officials accountable.

Now, about that process…

While Council made a good decision last summer to create a citizens-based committee to oversee the Village manager search, that process has faltered in recent weeks, peaking with Council’s stunning decision on Monday to withdraw its offer to interview one candidate, Teddy Ryan Jr. of Columbia, Pa.

Council members based their decision to un-invite Mr. Ryan on information that they received on Monday from background checks on the candidate. Council members deserve credit for deciding to no longer consider a candidate they had concerns about. Nevertheless, it’s remarkable that candidates were invited to Yellow Springs for interviews before background and reference checks were completed.

This situation could have been avoided had Council not ignored its own legislation that created the Village Manager Search Committee. The resolution instructed the committee to recommend to Council “its five best choices” for “follow-up contact and informal interviews.” Instead, the previous Council, on the day before the Nov. 8 election, agreed with a recommendation from the search committee that the Village skip the steps involving “follow-up contact and informal interviews” and jump to in-person interviews with the top three candidates.

Had Council and the search committee followed their original process and interviewed more candidates, on the telephone, while pursuing background checks, the awkward timing of Monday’s decision could have been avoided.

Council was fortunate that two other applicants, Thomas Carroll, the acting city manager of Loveland, and Eric Strahl, a former town manager of Hopkinton, R.I., were available this weekend to participate in the selection process. Another candidate, Eric Swansen, the former city manager of Farmersville, Calif., had already committed to come to Yellow Springs for an interview. If the proper background and reference checks for Mr. Carroll and Mr. Strahl cannot be completed in time for this weekend’s interviews, Council should delay the selection process to give the Village more time to carry out these necessary tasks.

The search committee and Council have worked hard on the selection process. But they have clearly been rushing to find a new manager, first when steps were ignored, then this week, when Council and the committee had to scramble to get interviews with two more candidates after Mr. Ryan was dropped from the list of contenders.

The missteps by Council and the search committee should not prohibit Council from selecting a great manager. But this week’s revelations and last-minute decisions make the Village look unprepared. Given the significance of the decision facing Council, more discretion and time should have been paid to the details of the search process.

— Robert Mihalek