The search for a town manager is still underway for the town of Culver, now heading into its sixth month without a manager. Several candidates were interviewed for the position after the town council received less than 10 applications in July, but none of them were the perfect match for the position that the council had been looking for. Council President Ginny Munroe stressed the fact that they want to hire a town manager, but they haven’t yet found what they’re looking for.
“We all want a town manager. We just want to make sure we hire the right person, and we’re not comfortable doing that with the candidates that we had,” said Munroe.
After the previous town manager left his position at the beginning of April, the town council started their process of looking for a new manager in May. Candidates were interviewed, and three were requested to return for a second interview. Unfortunately, one of the candidates declined because he no longer desired to commit to Culver, and the other two didn’t quite fit the bill.
“Culver is a little bit unique too in that someone who is qualified for the job has to make a decision about whether or not they want to move to Culver, and it’s a tough thing to find someone to commit to Culver,” Munroe said.
And just because there’s no town manager, that doesn’t mean it’s only a matter of time before there’s anarchy in the streets. In the absence of the town manager, the town and street supervisor oversees the projects that are currently underway for the town. One of the main downsides to lacking a town manager, Munroe says, is the fact that the citizens don’t know who to talk to.
“We have found that, when there’s a town manager of the town hall, people often go straight there when they want to know what’s going on and they ask questions. When you don’t have a town manager there, they come to the council meetings and ask their questions,” Munroe said.
While this is in no way a negative thing, it can be very difficult to keep a town of over 1500 people up to date on all the status of all the projects and the town manager serves as a designated channel to communicate with taxpayers. The town manager also serves as a central hub for the town: supervisors of most departments report to the town manager and keep him abreast of all new developments.
Munroe says that the council is looking for a town manager with some specific qualifications, but they’re not set in stone. Experience is a large necessity, especially because the last town manager had a large amount of experience and he served the town well. An appropriate education, such as a public administration degree or other type of management degree, is also a huge plus.
The council plans to re-advertise the position and allow time for applications to be received before they begin the interview process once again. This time, hopefully, they can find the perfect match for the position.
