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Published on 02/16/1998 All articles from this issue

Los Altos city manager search on schedule, officials say

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

The brochure is in the mail, the application deadline closes Tuesday, and by April council members will be reviewing candidates for the city manager position.

The search for a new Los Altos city manager, conducted by Rich Perry of the Sea Ranch-based recruitment firm of Hughes, Perry and Associates, seems to be moving along the timeline set by the city council in January.

But not without an occasional bump in the road, like having the brochure run over budget.

At its Feb. 10 meeting, the city council was asked for an additional $1,500 for "an enhanced city manager recruitment brochure with color photographs," said City Manager Dianne Gershuny in a staff report.

Several council members had asked Perry for "an upgrade to a two-page brochure" and that was going to cost more, she said.

If the council didn't want to authorize the additional expenditure, "savings will have to be found elsewhere ... as the brochure is likely too far along to save the additional cost at this point," Gershuny said.

Council OK'd the increase and also authorized the mayor to allow additional adjustments up to $2,500.

Perry's base fee for the search is $12,000 plus expenses not to exceed $3,500.

Perry, who wrote the brochure, used input from the 20 letters sent by community members and from information he gleaned in interviews with each council member and department head, said Mayor Kris Casto.

Then Councilman Francis La Poll and Casto worked on the brochure "and gave the narrative a little different flavor," Casto said.

"The brochure represents the city," Casto said.

It is a recruitment tool as well as "informational" for candidates, Gershuny said.

Applications go directly to Perry, Gershuny said, to "maintain confidentiality," so she has no numbers on how many have applied so far.

"I would imagine there will be plenty," she said. Perry had predicted 65 to 70 may apply.

Perry will review the applications and bring information on "the top 12 or so," Casto said, to a closed city council meeting April 8.

"We will whittle that down to five or six and then interview the five or six April 15-16" at closed council sessions, Casto said.

The original timeline shows a final candidate brought to council mid-May and being on the job by mid-June.

In the meantime, Gershuny's last day is March 13.

"There will be an interim manager," Casto said. "The 'who' has not been decided yet."

The League of Cities has a service of providing interims, from a pool of retired city managers, Casto said, and, "Dianne is bringing us information about it. It needs to be someone available and sort of in the vicinity. And that person is not able to apply for city manager."

Gershuny said that selection would be handled in a closed session of the city council and would probably be done in early March.