STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More All

• Halloween contest — send your photo!
• Bookworm: Life’s random acts
• Facts and life realities of a mysterious disease

Share and Enjoy [?]

Sixty days is enough time to find a city manager.

Or at least that’s what representatives from seven search firms told the Naples City Council at a workshop Monday.

Council members spent a better part of the workshop interviewing prospective firms for the upcoming city manager search. Seven national firms submitted proposals. Representatives from all of the firms said they did not have a problem with the tight deadline.

"Finding candidates isn’t going to be problem," said Colin Baenziger, owner of Colin Baenziger and Associates, a municipal search firm based in Wellington, Fla. "Finding the right ones might be the problem."

Councilman Gary Price said he understands the need for a speedy search, but he wondered if there was any other way to proceed.

"There hasn’t been a discussion about what our options are," Price said. "I heard some December time frame, but I’ve never been asked about a time frame. I’m not sure we’ve done right by this process."

The process began just days after City Manager Bob Lee’s resigned.

Lee announced his resignation on July 12, saying he would be pursuing his dream of teaching come November. Lee is slated to leave his position on Oct. 19 and begin work as a faculty member at the Askew School of Public Administration at Florida State University in Tallahassee on Nov. 1.

The city sent out a request for proposals on July 18, with seven firms responding by last week’s deadline. The city hopes to make an offer by mid-October, with the new city manager starting Dec. 3, according to Denise Perez, the city’s director of human resources.

Representatives from all of the firms were on hand Monday morning, with each of the firms giving a presentation before being questioned by council members.

Among the questions asked were whether the firm used personality tests to profile prospective candidates and whether they had city manager search experience in their background.

None of the firms are locally based, but two have offices in Florida and three went through the interview process when during the 2003 search for a Naples city manager — among them The Mercer Group, Inc., a Winter Haven-based executive search firm, which found Lee.

Sue Smith of Naples said she didn’t doubt the firms’ abilities to find a capable leader for the city, but asked council members to be cautious about entering into the search so quickly.

"This is an extremely serious and exciting moment for our city," she said. "But we need to assess this, there are so many things that we’ve lost in the past four years and we don’t want a repeat of that."

Community members asked the council to hold off on a decision until after the January council election.

Four seats are up for election in January, including the mayor’s seat. Lee was hired the year before elections and changes in council, taking the helm on June 30, 2003. At the time of his hiring, Lee was given a salary of $125,800, along with a housing and car allowance. He now earns $154,529.

Councilwoman Penny Taylor said it would wrong to ask a new council member to hire a city manager.

"This job doesn’t come with an owner’s manual," said Councilman Bill Wilkomm. "I think we’re doing a service to the community (by hiring someone) now."

The next step will be to evaluate the firms, which council members must do by Wednesday. Council members were asked to fill out a sheet that scores firms on 100-point scale. The score sheet asks members to score firms on topics ranging from references and fee schedule to prior successes and understanding of the project goals.

The City Council is expected to choose a firm during Wednesday’s meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m.

---

Here’s a look at the seven firms vying to conduct the search for a new Naples city manager:

&8226; Harrisburg, Penn. based Arcus Public has experience in city manager and assistant city manager searches. The executive search firm specializes in placing executives in public sector positions. The firm has conducted searches for the cities of San Antonio, Tacoma and Los Angeles, as well as Florida. The company projects the Naples search will cost $23,500, with expenses not exceeding $6,500.

&8226; Dallas-based Waters-Oldani Executive Recruitment is a division of The Waters Consulting Group Inc., and has experience in city manager searches. The firm as worked with the cities of Des Moines, Ann Arbor, Mich; and Commerce City, Colo. The company estimates the Naples search will cost $18,500, plus the cost of any additional, optional services.

&8226; Cincinnati-based Management Partners Inc. began offering executive search services in 2006. While the firm as a whole is still new to the executive search business, partner Michael Casey has done executive searches for the cities of Miami Beach, Ocala and Sunrise. The company estimates the Naples search will cost $17,500, with direct expenses not exceeding $4,750.

&8226; Norcross, Ga.-based Slavin Management Consultants has experience in city manager and assistant manager searches. The firm has performed searches for city managers in Fort Myers, Davie and West Palm Beach. The company estimates the Naples search will cost $13,890, with expenses not exceeding $7,640. The company submitted search proposals during the 2003 search.

&8226; Plymouth, Mass., based Bennett Yarger Associates has experience in executive searches for the public sector. The firm has performed searches for Miami-Dade County, Broward County and the city of Richmond, Virginia. The company estimates the Naples search will cost $14,000, with expenses capped at $4,000.

&8226; Wellington-based Colin Baenzinger and Associates has experience in city and county manager searches. The firm has performed searches for Flagler County, Fort Myers Beach and Islamorda. The company estimates the Naples search will cost $19,875, including all expenses and costs. Colin Baenzinger & Associates submitted search proposals during the 2003 Naples city manager search.

&8226; The Mercer Group Inc., with offices throughout the U.S., including Winter Haven, has city manager and administrator search experience. The firm has performed searches for Aspen, Colo., Austin, Texas, and Fort Lauderdale. The company has set a flat fee of $20,000, not including travel costs for final interview candidates. The Mercer Group Inc. submitted search proposals during the 2003 Naples city manager search.