Council praises recruitment process, community panels and Jensen Strategies in city manager selection

Councilors at the Aug. 28 special session described a multistep recruitment process that included a candidate meet-and-greet, written public comments, and three interview panels — public, peer and staff — and thanked Jensen Strategies for assisting with the national search.

"Each group looked at the candidates through a different lens, and together, those perspectives gave council a much fuller picture than we could have gotten from our interviews alone," Councilor Brad said, summarizing why the council relied on multiple panels and community input during deliberations.

Councilor Linda said the process was not easy because finalists brought varying strengths and experience, and she noted the council "unanimously picked Jennifer." Councilor Anton and others praised the turnout at the community forum and the breadth of perspectives it produced, saying public engagement materially informed the council’s deliberations.

The council also acknowledged that some deliberations had been held in executive session prior to the public meeting and that Dave Waffle has been serving as interim city manager for about three weeks while the recruitment proceeded. Councilors encouraged residents with questions to contact them directly and said staff will schedule a public meeting to review the proposed contract with the first-choice candidate.