MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown council members will seek help from a recruiting firm to fill an upcoming city manager vacancy.
“We’re going to use a search firm. We have a list of firms that we’ve been looking at. So, they’re (Deputy Mayor Bill Kawecki and Councilor Jay Redmond) going to review those to make a recommendation to council. Then we will determine who we will go with,” explained Mayor Marti Shamberger.
As the firms are researched, Shamberger said council will continue discussion about the qualifications they are looking for in a candidate.
“We need to sit down and look at the job description of the city manager and determine criteria that we want to have used,” Shamberger noted. “One of the positive things about a search firm, it is a time saver. It’s more efficient. We want to get the best candidate that we can.”
Current City Manager Jeff Mikorski’s last day on the job is August 19. He has accepted the city administrator position in Verona, Wisconsin.
During an executive session Tuesday, council was expected to name an interim city manager. Shamberger said it was too soon for an announcement immediately following the specially called meeting to discuss personnel issues.
“We certainly anticipate an announcement next week. We’re in the midst of some negotiations.”
Representatives from outside organizations that work closely with the city have expressed the need for the best candidate possible.
The search comes at a time when an appeal has been made to the WV State Supreme Court of Appeals to have 4 council members removed. That’s after opinions from a three judge panel, the Monongalia County prosecuting attorney’s office and the Secretary of State’s office didn’t acknowledge wrong doing that would call of the removal of elected officials.
“I would certainly hope that we can get beyond that,” Shamberger said. “I do think for the success and future of our city, this is a very important decision.”