Assembly Diary

Monday through Wednesday of last week were taken up with the search for a new City Manager (Rod Swope leaves at the end of April). We had advertised nationwide and received 30 some applications (a pretty low number). We selected eleven applicants who seemed to have possibilities and held telephone interviews at the end of January. As a result of those interviews we selected five candidates that we thought sounded good. Two of them eventually withdrew and we invited three to Juneau. Last week we held what is called an Assessment Center. Over three days we had the candidates run a mock staff meeting where they had to discuss how to make a 10% budget cut. The candidates then had to draft a written memo about the cuts (they had two hours) and present it to the Assembly who questioned them about their recommendations. Later the candidates made a public presentation and responded to questions (some of them planted). Finally, each candidate had a 90 minute interview alone with the full Assembly.

This was an intense process for both candidates and the Assembly and is the first time such an exhaustive process has been carried out for a City Manager in Juneau. After the exercises we felt only one of the candidates had the knowledge and abilities to be city manager in Juneau, and, unfortunately, that candidate did not show the interest or motivation we hoped for.

So, disappointingly, we are starting over. Rod Swope is willing to stay on for some period of time, as long as he can take a couple months off at the end of April. During that time, Deputy Manager Kim Kiefer will be in charge. Meanwhile the Assembly will discuss how to proceed.
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There are no Assembly meetings this coming week - March 2-7.