The process of finding a new city administrator for the city of Branson is in its final stages. Branson Mayor Raeanne Presley said that it was her goal to have the process completed and the new administrator at their desk by “the end of May.”
After a careful and deliberative process to select an executive search firm to handle a nationwide campaign to help the board find and select the best qualified, available, and interested candidate for the job, the process moved into the actual recruitment and selection phase on Jan.10. The city’s board of aldermen met with Robert E. Slavin, the President of Slavin Management Consultants, the firm that the board had selected to help them with the actual recruitment and selection of the new city administrator.
During that meeting Slaving said, “The fit is the key” and went on to point out that although there are a lot of qualified candidates to pick from, the key is to find the one that fits in best with the expectations and needs of the community. During a phone interview on Mar. 6 Mayor Presley reiterated the importance of that fit.
After the January meeting, Slavin finished the development of the recruitment program, necessary materials, and started the recruitment process. The advertising for the position states the minimum requirements a candidate for the position must have is “the equivalent of a Master’s degree in public administration combined with significant experience as a local government manager or full range assistant in a complex community comparable to Branson” and that the applicant must clearly possess superior management, financial and leadership knowledge, skill, ability, commitment and energy as needed “to achieve the Board’s goals.”
It goes on to say that there would be some preference for experience in a growing community with a tourism-based economy and that the applicant must be a superior communicator with the skill and ability to build trust-based and effective working relationships with the Board, department heads, employees, the community and a variety of critical external stake holders. The final day for submitting resumes for the position is Mar. 17.
Mayor Presley said that she anticipated that Slavin Management will vet the resumes, background checks etc. and, depending on the number received, submit them to the board in an executive (closed) session meeting along with their recommendation within two or three weeks after the Mar. 17 deadline. The objective of the process is to narrow the list down to a final list of a few of the very best candidates that would then be interviewed toward the middle of April.
Mayor Presley went on to say that, based on those interviews and all the other factors involved, they would pick a candidate to offer the position to. Assuming the first candidate the job is offered to accepts, it is the Mayor’s hope that the new city administrator will be at their post by the end of May.
Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.
