Beckley city manager committee to decide on recruitment agency next week

Apr. 11—Two recruitment agencies have submitted bids to offer their services to the city of Beckley in its search for a city manager. The bids were given to Beckley's City Manager Recruitment Committee members during their meeting Thursday at Beckley City Hall. The bidding recruitment agencies are AtWork Personnel of Beckley and Baker Tilly, which is based in Virginia.

The city has worked with AtWork in the past, using it last summer to recruit a pool manager and lifeguards for the city's pools.

City Attorney Bill File, who runs the committee meeting but is not a voting member, asked the committee members to spend the next week reviewing the bids and come back with a recommendation.

The committee's next meeting is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18, in council chambers at Beckley City Hall.

Committee member Jina Belcher, who is the executive director of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority, noted that from her brief perusal of the recruitment agencies' proposed timelines, it did not appear they would be able to meet a June deadline.

The June deadline comes from Beckley's city manager ordinance, which was approved by the Beckley Common Council in January and transitions the city from a strong mayor government to a city manager government.

According to the city manager ordinance, council has until June 14 to appoint a city manager. Otherwise, the mayor will appoint an acting city manager until council can agree on an appointment.

Since the committee started meeting at the end of February, Belcher and other members have stated that the city's ability to meet such a deadline is improbable.

"I just don't know if there are enough calendar days," said committee member T. Ramon Stuart, WVU Tech's president, at a meeting in March.

File said he agreed with Belcher's assessment of the recruitment bids, adding that the city would likely need to bring in an interim city manager while it continued its search for a permanent candidate.

"We're two and a half months out before this administration leaves," File said. "It could go into the latter part of the summer before we have somebody, but it also could be certainly quicker than that. The goal is to have it quicker than that, but we're going to make sure we get the right person."

Upon mention of the potential for an interim city manager, committee member and Beckley council member Robert Dunlap asked File whether something should be drafted for council that states how long the interim city manager would be in place.

In response, File said, "We can certainly look at that. I think an interim is someone that we need to bring in with the understanding that individual will be committed to us until we have the permanent individual ready to be sworn in."

File added that, regardless of what the recruitment agencies propose, the city can stop the process at any time once council approves a candidate.

"The end game is — what we want is a good candidate for city manager," File said. "If we end up getting a good candidate, we can stop the process anytime if we have a candidate that everybody feels would be best for the city. There's no requirement this matter be prolonged unnecessarily."

When asked how much the agencies were charging, File said that figure would be subject to negotiation, which would take place after the city manager committee decides on its recommendation.

"Once the (committee) makes the decision on which company to recommend, then the city administration would negotiate the price," File said. "Here, I don't even know that that's going to be necessary because the prices are not outrageous, based upon the work that's been anticipated."

If all goes as planned, File said he will present the committee's recommendation along with the negotiated price to Beckley Common Council at its next meeting on April 23.

"If we go forward with it, I'd like to see us be in a position to sign a contract the following day and have them off and running," he said.