What do you expect from the new city manager?

Below is a story about the firm the city hired to narrow down the field of candidates.

Leadership, passion key attributes sought in new city manager
By JIM FAILE
HARTSVILLE - The recruiters who will conduct the search for a new city manager for Hartsville said that the message they have gotten thus far as they have met with city officials and community leaders is that the new city manager must be a strong leader – not just a manager – who brings a vision and a passion for Hartsville to the position.
Kenneth D. Carrick Jr. and Nick Lomax with Coleman Lew & Associates Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., met with the city’s City Manager Search Committee Tuesday and presented an overview of how they plan to proceed with the search. They also met with Hartsville City Council during council’s monthly work session Tuesday.
Coleman Lew & Associates is the executive recruitment firm retained by the city to carry out the search and bring a list of prospects back to the committee. The search committee will present prospects to council, which will make the ultimate selection of a new manager.
“Our charge is to present to council the best of the best,” said Interim City Manager Vern Myers, who heads the search committee.
“Our role is to assist the search committee, doing the background work, and to recommend a group of candidates to the search committee,” Carrick told city council.
Carrick, partner and managing director with the firm, and Lomax, a partner with the firm, visited Hartsville last week and met with a number of people including city officials, civic, education and business leaders and other “stakeholders” to get a feel for community priorities for a new manager. “We’re trying to get a sense of what makes Hartsville tick,” Carrick told city council.
“Everybody was extremely positive. People were very enthusiastic,” Carrick said.
Carrick said three priorities stood out in those talks. “Number one was someone with a passion for Hartsville, someone who will be visible, accessible and able to communicate with a variety of stakeholders,” he said.
Another priority is someone who is good at building working relationships with people and groups and who understands how to balance the needs of the community and someone who will develop a good relationship with the mayor and city council.
The people they talked with also want someone who is adept and knowledgeable about going after grants and developing new streams of revenue, Carrick said.
And, he said, they want someone who can sell Hartsville. “I think you’ve got a lot of assets here that set Hartsville apart from a lot of other small towns, and a city manager can help market those,” he said.
“They want strong, experienced leadership, and someone who is happy to live in this town,” Lomax said.
But experience in government did not appear to be a priority for many, Carrick said. Leadership ability, he said, was the common theme throughout their discussions. “It all comes back to leadership,” Carrick said.
Search committee member Dick Puffer was among those who stressed leadership. “There’s a difference between leadership and management,” he said. “A lot of people can manage, but not everybody’s a leader.”
“One of the things that stands out in our minds is that you’re here to bring leaders,” said Mayor Mel Pennington.
The search committee reviewed a draft description for the position that Coleman Lew will use in its recruitment effort and discussed some recommended changes. Committee members will submit any changes to Carrick and Lomax before a final draft is drawn up.
“This will get spread around a lot,” Carrick said. “What I want is for people to read this and to want to talk to us about the position.”
The firm has experience in recruiting to Hartsville. Coleman Lew & Associates recruited Dr. Robert Wyatt to Hartsville as the new president of Coker College. Wyatt is serving on the City Manager Search Committee. “We have been successful in selling the attributes of your beautiful city,” Carrick told council.
The group is currently recruiting for another key executive position for Coker College.
Myers told the search committee that despite the failure of city officials to notify the press of previous meetings of the committee on six different occasions in violation of the S.C. Freedom of Information Act, the search can go forward. He said city officials spoke with the attorney for the S.C. Press Association and that there appear to be no legal impediments to proceeding with the search.
He said the panel is committed to making as much information as possible about the search and selection process available to the press and the public.
The city has received more than 80 applications for the position. Coleman Lew will review those applications and will also recruit among other potential candidates who may be interested in the job but who are not among the current crop of applicants, Carrick and Lomax said.
Former City Manager Dr. Jim Pennington resigned in January. Myers, former chairman of the Hartsville Planning Commission, has been serving as interim city manager since then.
Carrick and Lomax said they hope to have some recommendations ready for the search committee to review in about 60 days.