Local: Council suspends city manager search until after holidays (REVISED)
(Press release)
Date: November 12, 2008
Released by: Mayor Jim Ardis on behalf of the Peoria City Council
Alma Brown, Communications Manager, 494-8554
Subject: City Manager Search
For the past five months the City Council has been engaged in an intensive search process for a permanent City Manger. The process produced several excellent candidates. We interviewed three well-qualified individuals. One candidate was a consensus choice of the council. Two weeks ago the City Council offered the position to Mr. Eric Stuckey, Assistant County Administrator of Hamilton County, Ohio (Cincinnati). Mr. Stuckey was very impressed with the opportunity in Peoria and visited with us on two occasions. He was also interviewing for a similar position and in the end he selected a position in Franklin, Tennessee because of family considerations.
Based on past City Manager search experience, and with the advice of our consultant Jim Mercer, the City Council has elected to postpone further search activities until after the first of the year. The coming holidays, ongoing national economic concerns and local spring elections would all suggest suspending the search a couple months.
The City is fortunate to have a seasoned administrative team in place with leadership by Interim City Manger Henry Holling. The City Council and staff have continued to move Peoria city government forward. Important projects and critical services are progressing. We will have a balanced budget for 2009 in very challenging economic times with no service cuts and no tax increases.
Our plan is to continue the present Interim City Manger arrangement and remain focused on our vision of an excellent quality of urban life … vibrant, progressive, diverse and welcoming.
Revised version:
For the past five months the City Council has been engaged in an intensive search process for a permanent City Manager. The process produced several excellent candidates. We interviewed three well-qualified individuals. One candidate was a consensus choice of the Council. Two weeks ago the City Council offered the position to Mr. Eric Stuckey, Assistant County Administrator of Hamilton County, Ohio (Cincinnati). Mr. Stuckey was very impressed with the opportunity in Peoria and visited with us on two occasions. He was also interviewing for a similar position and in the end he selected a position in Franklin, Tennessee, because of family considerations.
Based on past City Manager search experience, and with the advice of our consultant Jim Mercer, the City Council has elected to postpone further search activities until after the first of the year. The coming holidays, ongoing national economic concerns and local spring elections would all suggest suspending the search a couple months.
The City is fortunate to have a seasoned administrative team in place with leadership by Interim City Manager Henry Holling. The City Council and staff have continued to move Peoria city government forward. Important projects and critical services are progressing. We will have a balanced budget for 2009, in very challenging economic times with no service cuts and no tax increases.
Our plan is to continue the present Interim City Manager arrangement and remain focused on our vision of an excellent quality of urban life … vibrant, progressive, diverse and welcoming.
November 12th, 2008 at 10:18 am
And the difference between the two versions is…?
November 12th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Formatting
Not a good sign…..at this rate, we’ll be lucky to have a new CM by the start of the 2010 budget season……..
November 12th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Double spacing paragraphs………………………
November 12th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I have to say, I’d have taken the offer of Franklin, TN over Peoria, IL also. If you’ve never been there, it is a wonderful and growing community – somewhat expensive real estate, but a wonderful and vibrant downtown, excellent schools, and friendly residents.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I was just about to walk out the door this morning when I got the revised version. So I put it on theblog and left.
November 12th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Maybe this evening Bill can update this post by adding a version in a completely different font.
November 12th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I like Mr. Holling myself, i always like to some one in our community go up the ladder. We have a lot coming up , and i feel he is doing a great job, As a friend , says, take it slow and get it right. I do watch the meetings now and then. Mr. Holling looks like he get along well with the council…
November 12th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
I’ll take the job and I’ll take it with a 25% pay cut and I promise if i get the job I will tell someone to F off!
November 13th, 2008 at 1:13 am
The recent and bizarre practice of spending months and months looking for new city managers, county administrators and school superintendents seems profoundly unproductive and wasteful. Meanwhile, the public body involved temporizes. It makes one wonder how important some of these people really are.
Elected officials seem to view city managers and county administrators, in particular, as wizards who will magically repair all of their over-promising and overspending. Meanwhile, the “wizards” themselves can make fiscal problems worse (as in Woodford County) by sucking up salaries, benefits and bonuses.
November 13th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
The reports I’ve heard from City Hall indicate that Mr. Holling is providing leadership for the staff in a very inclusive atmosphere, i.e. he’s allowing them to do their jobs in a very respectful and encouraging manner. And apparently the staff wasn’t much used to this style of leadership, and now that they’ve experienced it, the cooperation and teamwork is really astonishing the members of the council. Take for example the apparent semi-miracle that the staff has performed on next years budget, working under Mr. Holling’s leadership and guidance, in four months, it appears they’ve found over $2 million allowing them to balance the budget, thereby avoiding a certain significant crisis. No wonder the Mayor and Council members don’t mind continuing the status quo into sometime next year.