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“Why would anyone want to come work here,” asked a City Hall employee.
Well, commissioners can dream and the city is going for round two on its search for a new city manager. It looks like they are going the same route: On Friday, commissioners picked yet another recruiter to find them new candidates for the top administrative job at the City Beautiful.
But it’s different this time, they swear.
“Last time it was like an RFP process,” said Commissioner Frank Quesada. He said somewhere around 110 applicants were culled to 15 who were interviewed by a selection committee and further shortlisted to the five finalists. This time, it’s going to be more like cherry picking, Quesada said.
“This time we will have a recruiter who is targeting individuals,” Quesada told Ladra, adding that other high-profile current managers at U.S. cities might not be discouraged this time because it will be less of a public obstacle course.
“Everyone feels those potential applicants are going to be able to put their name in the ring,” Quesada said.
Quesada and Commissioners Pat Keon and Vince Lago said they expect quite different outcomes this time. Not one of the name
s from the last shortlist are expected to be on it. Ouch to all of those people who are now being so publicly snubbed.
The difference is, commissioners said, that Gables resident Bud Park, a retired recruiter who gave advice during the process and is coming out of retirement for this one job, will research and identify candidates who are perfect fits — not just cast a wide net for all 125 people or so who happen to want the job, including the political climbers who were on the final list.
“They won’t come to us. He will go to them,” Keon said.
“This will be a true executive search,” Lago said, adding that it is how it should have been handled the first time and agreeing with Lago that this may bring some better hopefuls out of the woodwork.
Read related story: Back to the drawing board for Coral Gables manager search
Park will get $25,000 for a “quick search” to vet and present the right three candidates in 60 days. Quesada said that a “five-star candidate” might be brought to them before Park’s time is up.
Some of Park’s fee might come out of the refund that the city expects from the $33,000 paid to Baezinger for his botched services. City spokeswoman Maria Higgins-Fallon said that Baezinger is going to refund all the funds paid to him except for monies he
spent on advertising the position. Ladra will believe it when she sees it.
Park — who said he will cull his list from city officials, members of the citizens advisory board and contacts from his own business network (and who can’t do that?) — will get a $10K bonus if one of his picks gets placed. The agreement was signed Monday.
Wait. What? What do you mean if?
Maybe it is going to be a more difficult job now. One of the other candidates who applied for the position but was not selected, Miami Parking Authority CEO Art Noriega, has decided he doesn’t want the job anymore. It’s quite possible that, in light of this whole selection mess, other self-respecting professionals are taking an arm’s length approach of wait and see on a political post that likely won’t get filled until the silly election season starts at the end of this year.
Unless he or she (1) has an inside track and/or (2) always wanted to join the circus.
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Coral Gables city manager search circus act enters part II added by Ladra on
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