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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 2a: Selection of Executive Search Firm Bob Murray & Associates for City Manager Recruitment OF ARCS: 4 c S Gp�,lFO(�,t1 ,r nip 4 �� ••Aufu.i S.Ifal Oa\ i`e �4aity of'1/44.° STAFF REPORT Office of the City Manager DATE: September 20, 2011 TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Don Penman, City Manager SUBJECT: SELECTION OF EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRM BOB MURRAY & ASSOCIATES FOR CITY MANAGER RECRUITMENT Recommendation: Approve SUMMARY The City Manager has announced his retirement and in response the City Council has initiated a process to recruit for and fill this position. The Council has appointed the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tern to serve as an Ad Hoc Committee to interview and submit a recommendation to the entire Council regarding selection of a search firm to assist in the recruitment of a new City Manager. The Committee is recommending that the City Council select Bob Murray & Associates to assist in the recruitment process and direct that the City Attorney prepare an agreement and that the City Manager be authorized and directed to sign on behalf of the City. DISCUSSION With the announced retirement of the City Manager, the City Council needs to initiate a process to fill the position. Often for a position at this level, executive search firms are retained to assist the City Council in the recruitment process. Experienced firms can assist the Council in a number of ways that offers significant advantages to conducing recruitments solely with in-house staff, including the following: they can facilitate the preparation of a candidate profile that indentifies the Council's expectations regarding education, experience, skills, abilities and compensation; they can assure greater confidentiality for candidates during the recruitment process; the search firm has greater networking connections in identifying potential candidates who meet the Councils expectations regarding qualifications; and the firm can assist the Council in screening the applicants to a number that the City Council will want to interview. Experienced executive search firms assist cities on a regular basis in filling city manager positions, because cities themselves for the most part are not experienced in this type of recruitment. Selection of a city manager is one of the most important decisions that a council can make, and retention of an experienced firm can increase the likelihood of a successful process. Mayor & City Council-City Manager Recruitment September 20, 2011 Page 2 With the direction to identify and select an executive search firm, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was prepared and distributed to nine (9) firms from which seven (7) submitted proposals. The Ad Hoc Committee, after reviewing the proposals selected three for interviews. These firms included Alliance Resource Consulting, Bob Murray and Associates and William Avery and Associates. The three firms were interviewed by the Committee on September 14 and they are recommending that the City Council approve their recommendation to select Bob Murray & Associates. While all three firms were very experienced in providing recruitment services to cities and in particular for city manager positions, the Committee was most impressed with the number of city manager recruitments this firm has conducted including many in Southern California. From a timing standpoint, it will take approximately four months to complete the process, from preparation of the candidate profile to Council interviews and selection of a new City Manager. The actual start date for the Manager would then depend on any notice required to a current employer and any relocation if necessary. FISCAL The cost to conduct the recruitment based on the proposal from the selected firm will be a fixed amount of $16,500.00 plus expenses, which is estimated at $6,500.00. Expenses will include such items as cost of travel, newspaper and magazine ads, clerical support, background checks and copying costs. No funds are currently budgeted for this expense but it is anticipated that there will be salary and benefit savings upon the retirement of the current City Manager which should cover most if not all of the costs of recruitment. If not, a budget amendment can be brought back to Council at a later time to cover any difference. It should be noted that this amount is comparable with the costs proposed by most of the other firms, ranging from $15,000 to $16,900 with out-of-pocket costs of about $6,000 to $6,500. RECOMMENDATION It is the recommendation of the Ad Hoc Committee that the City Council select Bob Murray & Associates to assist the Council in the executive recruitment for a new City Manager and direct the City Attorney to prepare an agreement for these services and authorize the City Manager to sign on behalf of the City.