okay well good morning everybody welcome
to the special meeting of las cruces
City Council today is Wednesday March
4th 2020 it's approximately 8 a.m.
before we get started if you please join
me in the Pledge of Allegiance please
okay thank you so we've got three items
on the agenda and we're gonna go over
those amber yes myself and Jen ranked
help from Novak good morning mayor and
council my name is Amber Vaughn I'm the
interim chief of staff I've got Jen
ranked help from Novak consulting to go
over the city manager recruitment with
you today's agenda will be an overview
of the current recruitment process to
date finalized the interview logistics
and then we'll discuss the next step
thank you I'll hand it over to Jen
good morning mayor and council thank you
for having me here this morning I'm
excited to be here to give you an update
on the Las Cruces city manager
recruitment process as you had the
opportunity I know amber said you had a
chance to look through your binders and
review that candidate review memo so we
had a really good response to your job
posting and the recruitment for the city
manager we received over a hundred
applications and so just to let you know
where we were at to date me and my staff
had the opportunity to screen and review
all the applications so we look through
all of them and we conducted phone
interviews internet research on the
candidates will be brought to you today
is what we felt were the top 10
candidates it's always hard to know
what's the right number to bring we
could bring a top 20 candidates it's
really hard to narrow down if you get
too many in that top pool to decide who
you want to invite to participate in the
interview process but at this point I
brought you ten I did phone interview
more than that but I felt like it was
appropriate to really find candidates
that most closely matched your minimum
and preferred qualifications and your
ideal candidate profile so always remind
everybody to go back to our recruitment
brochure the ideal candidate profile
that was developed and the minimum and
preferred qualifications it always
becomes increasingly difficult as the
pool gets larger it becomes much more
competitive because you have candidates
who have longer ten years or really
strong experience in one particular
area specifically in this search for
local government we ended up with a
really competitive pool and so I think
that also gives a lot of credit to your
organization we had a lot of candidates
that were very familiar with your
organization who really wanted to work
here so it was a good competitive pool
I'm happy to answer questions about that
but I know you've had the opportunity to
look through some of their materials
we'll talk about that more in depth this
afternoon I have extensive phone
interview know it's like spent over an
hour with most of them on the phone I'm
asking very specific questions it really
got to your preferred qualification
specifically about things such as
working at with diverse stakeholders at
risk
populations economic development
community engagement their budgeting and
capital planning experience really
getting into what you determine where
your preferred qualifications so we can
talk about that more in depth later this
afternoon or this morning but I think
for most of the candidates I have
interview notes that are probably
between five and six pages for each
candidate she'll be able to learn a
little bit more about their history
background and why they're interested in
this position here in Las Cruces but
I'll open that to questions I know that
there's been some questions about how we
get to the candidate site the slate that
I present to you and how we get to that
magic number so Jen if I may interject a
few things because I know that many on
the council were new to this process and
let me just share with you what my idea
or thinking was obviously and you you
did a great job in getting a hundred
applicants to apply and it's a-you know
and I'm not saying that the council
can't see the hundred applicants which
is which they know if they want to they
can but what I was envisioning was that
you do what you did and that is give us
what you feel is say the top ten and my
suggestion might be and of course it's
up to council is that we take those top
ten we discuss that in closed session
and we maybe come back with three or
four or five or you know and then those
are the ones that we would have
interviews with if we choose to and then
and then the next mayor that's exactly
right that's when we talked about the
recruitment process in the candidate
review process yes this is a slate those
are the top candidates for you to review
and decide who you want to invite to
participate in in the interview process
the expectation is not that you would
invite all tend to participate that the
process is the candidate review process
I'm sorry can you just repeat we just
said did you say the expectation is yeah
the expectation is never to have you or
any governing body invite all the
candidates the slate that we present the
this is to provide to you because you've
hired us as a recruiting firm to provide
you the screening process so we screen
the candidates we bring you the top
candidates based on your minimum and
preferred qualifications
and then you look at that list and then
you decide who you want to interview and
so that's what we do this afternoon as
we decide or this later this morning you
you learn about each candidate more in
depth I can answer questions that can
help frame your conversation but you
would decide who you invite to interview
and it's typically four to six
candidates
it's unless and possibly get more than
five interviews done in a day so it's
the job is to narrow down that pool and
that is why if we bring you a larger
slate it becomes increasingly difficult
to narrow down that pool you need a pool
to be able to look at that is why you've
hired an outside recruiting firm whether
that was us or anybody else they're
going to bring you a very small subset
of that 100 they're not going to bring
you all 100 applicants they're going to
bring you those that most closely match
what you're looking for in the ideal
candidate okay so let me also ask you
this so let's just say of the ten I'm
just using hypothetical they like three
and they may I think maybe one council
member may have seen some more
candidates and can he or she then
request the I guess what I'm trying to
say is I know they I mean I know they
can do this they can go ahead and bring
in a couple more from that list and or
even if they happen to have one that
might even not even be on the list this
is what I'm trying to convey to the
public into council is this is our one
employee and this is we have we used
Novak to help us find applicants and and
an interview and but we ultimately have
that that leeway if we if you feel that
there might be one or two candidates
that didn't appear on the on the top ten
but you really feel they want to you
want to interview them or if there was
just if number one city manager in the
United States just wants to wants to
know them and you want to reach out to
them to answer that question certainly
if there were other candidates but the
body would like us to look at we would
do that however this isn't it I work for
the body just like your staff does
just like your future city manager does
so it wouldn't be about one particular
council member saying interview this
candidate we would need to devise a
process to have you weather talk to me
over the phone or have an executive
session with your staff to determine as
a body these are the additional three we
want an interview or have Jennifer phone
interview but it's not about picking and
choosing each one of the council members
doesn't get to say I want these two
interviewed we need to as a body agree
or at least the majority of the body to
come to consensus but certainly we can
include you more so let's just use the
hypothetical let's say we have five now
so let's assume that then let's just go
to number two where he says finalized
interview logistics yeah so let's talk
about the interview process right now we
have the interview process scheduled for
March 17th and 18th so it's just two
weeks away and that was the date that
was set by the council it should be on
all your calendars so it's a two-day
process and so the typical interview
process would be a panel interview with
the council on the first day at the end
of day one you would decide who you
wanted to invite back for day two
activities and that's typically
narrowing it down to the top two
candidates but what I would like to hear
from you today is if there's other panel
activities or community activities you
would like incorporated oftentimes
there's a panel that involves your
executive leadership team or your
department heads sometimes there's a
tour of your community sometimes there's
a community open house so we need to
know as we frame and develop the
schedule what it is that this council
wants and sometimes the governing bodies
want to make really be the deciding
factor and really lead that process so I
don't know what makes the most sense
here in Las Cruces you do okay so Jen
just to clarify so what you were
thinking were those two days and I'm
glad you discuss that because so you
were thinking that let's just say let's
use example five so let's say we did
five on that one first Wednesday and
let's say we wanted them to come back
the next day and then interview
those two of the five talked to okay so
so then what I think and then again I'm
gonna open up the council here but I I
would think then on that second day we
can already figure out when to meet with
staff and then also to the public I
think it's important that we do
something with that so I just wanted to
go through these and then of course you
know the next steps we understand you
know you would negotiate you have to do
the background and things of this nature
so I just wanted to get somewhere so
typically it would be on the first like
let's say Wednesday we invite the
candidates in a typical process would be
the first candidate would take a tour of
Las Cruces that's given by a key staff
members then they would go into a panel
either with you or with the leadership
team so they would have an all-day
activity of panel activities and then at
the end of the day we seek stakeholder
input so I would debrief with the panel
the the tour guides with the staff panel
and I would bring that to the council
and so you would have all that input
when you start making your decision
about who you wanted to invite back on
dates you because it's a decision-making
process where you all have to come to a
consensus about who you think would be
the best candidate to bring back to the
table and then sometimes communities
involve an open-house component or a
stakeholder component and we wouldn't
need to decide where you wanted to do
that was it a breakfast was it the night
before but there's also an opportunity
there to engage the public but we would
probably need to know that relatively
soon because as candidates are making
their flight arrangements they need to
know we're driving and when they want to
arrive when they need to be here and get
it on staff calendar but the process
could also be very streamlined it could
be on Wednesday they meet with you you
convene at the end of the day decide who
you want to invite back and then on the
next day you just meet with the top two
I always say that the second day is an
opportunity for you to interview the
candidates but they're really
interviewing you - it's a two-way
dialogue to really see if an community
and a governing body that they can work
with okay so that
plan a now let's go to plan B Plan B is
just a hypothetical completely set of
candidates they wanna interview then
what do we do well no matter what you're
gonna have to develop an interview
process so specifically those dates that
you have for it actually doesn't matter
to me what dates you pick you're gonna
need to desert decide an interview
process so we can develop a schedule so
I I do need to hear from you as to what
you want your process to look like I
can't guess so do you want it or do you
want your leadership team involved those
are things that you will have to convey
either to me or to your staff so we can
develop the schedule and I don't have a
preference if it's a Wednesday and
Thursday or if it's the next week so but
right now you have it scheduled on the
17th and 18th if we get in today and you
say scrap all these candidates we need
to go back out we can do that but we're
gonna have to probably I don't think
that's the case I'm just commenting so
now I'm going to open it up and now I
wanted to have a little but we can
certainly do that there's not no problem
in moving that out we could also think
about other alternative screening
methods we could do Skype interviews
WebEx interviews in the middle of it if
maybe there were some you're thinking
might be a good candidate but you're not
sure before he want to bring him out we
can we can play around with this
something just popped in my head I just
want counsel to to know years ago we had
one where we actually had them do a
video and send it to us and it was
pretty interesting
we've got to see how creative they were
or not creative one actually did one in
front of a fireplace like a fireside
chat but and I should I think Robert
even did one because it Garza I thought
I think the things I'm seeing the things
that he did yeah I think he did and so
so it's interesting how they talked to
the camera and how they how they yeah so
something think about it can be it's
kind of creative but nonetheless I want
to just kind of give a little gamut now
open it up to count council and so mayor
pro-tem and councillor Danko Thank You
meryt Thank You Jenna I appreciate all
the work and consideration I was excited
to hear that we had a little over a
hundred applicants and part of me and
and to hear your process what you did
the phone interview is taking five to
six pages of notes looking I was one of
the ones that suggested to look at the
rest of the poll to see who was there
and available to us and so my questions
are more specific in regards to how are
we going to develop interview questions
are you going to be asking our interim
stiva chief of staff and those of us on
council what those interview questions
look like and all right so I'll stop
there so you can answer that that's a
great question and so that's actually
part of our conversation when we think
about interview logistics so typically I
do provide you draft interview questions
to get your feedback but my
understanding is because this is a open
meeting we don't want to talk about our
interview questions in a public setting
so I think a better way to talk about
that are things like thinking about
themes or topics that you would want to
ask the candidates and I came up with
sort of a list of topics that we
normally touch on but yes we would
provide that I'm gonna actually ask your
legal counsel here for advice if they
can if we can email draft questions do
they have the opportunity if I provide
feedback that way how would they be able
to provide feedback on interview
questions
Robert de Mayo city attorney I think the
best way would be to provide that
information to this interim manager and
that way you can get to the staff and
then they can communicate with you well
we're probably going to since the
interim city manager is a finalist we
probably just just refer everything to
the Barbara DeLeon so what our plan was
today was to get to hear from all of you
what types of questions you feel are
most appropriate if there are specific
areas you want us to hit on we will
draft interview questions I have a phone
call scheduled with Joe and amber and
Barbara to make sure we find - not to
meet your needs so we will help really
craft questions that meet the needs of
the council and there will be
opportunities before the interview
process to review those questions and
refine them I think it's always
important to ask the same questions
throughout the process and be consistent
so that's one of the reasons I'm there
I'm there and I make sure we stay on
time everybody gets the same amount of
time and that we asked the same
questions but I'm there's certainly
flexibility if we get in there Wednesday
morning and we're like oh we didn't have
a question about their experience
dealing with economic development and an
area in the community we can certainly
frame that and develop a question we
would just want to make sure we ask that
to all the candidates so whether that's
where you look at it ahead of time or we
look at it the day of I will take your
feedback today and kind of craft
questions that are most appropriate for
Los Cruces and I'm going to let good
morning counsel Joe Richards from human
resources I would agree with Jennifer
typically we would craft those questions
and take an opportunity to meet with you
and make sure that we're hitting the
points that you want throughout the
interview process and make sure those
questions are consistent throughout okay
so my my feedback would be to ask
questions
obviously around communication
collaboration the highlighting sort of
looking at our strategic plan and sort
of what our vision is for the next five
years and crafting those kinds of
questions
of course strengths and areas that they
feel they need to improve how they're
going to involve staff and their
decision-making processes I think are
really important the other thing is I
like May or the idea of a video I think
that really I I'm very visual so I'm
reading the resume like I would really
like to see a picture of them right but
so then I had to go back and Google and
try to find pictures and information
about about them to sort of understand
where where they're at and I'd really
like to see sort of a plan of action in
terms of their first few you know the
first few months things that they would
like to to to he or she would like to
see happen as it relates to I'm starting
here with us the other the other thing
that I would really like to see is I
think a tour is is a good idea I think
it's important for people to understand
our community and I I think what's
important not only a tour of obviously
the city facilities and one up but in
our city are each of our districts I
really want this individual to
understand you know sort of the
strengths and weaknesses things that we
need to work on for each of our
districts I think is really important
the other thing is I was a part of a
hiring our executive director for our
Animal Services Board and we gave the
candidates an opportunity to meet the
public but in a in a very organized
fashion in that the cat the public had
questions that they would like to ask so
they could get a feel for this
individual so it was done with a
facilitator that was probably one of the
I continue to hear lots of feedback from
people who participated that it was
something that they really appreciated
because they got a better feel for the
candidate and what they what they stood
for and in those kinds of things and
being able to answer questions sort of
on the spot without having you know
being prepared for I think is is also
really important
lastly I am also thinking that in some
of the other interviews that we've hired
like Police Chief and and and so forth
we had that you know I think at least
three panel of interviews where they
were with the business organizations
community organizing nonprofit if you
will and I think that's something that
we certainly should consider as well so
this might be back great ideas and for
the record we do down hire the police
chief I think yeah yeah I think what the
mayor pro-tem was talking about when
they did have that they had that set up
for the chief okay
councilman comb and then councillor
Flores Thank You mr. mayor um thank you
can you repeat your last name for me
right now Frank you guys try Celt I
appreciate the information you've
provided I have a couple questions and
then I'd like to say something will you
it seems like you
we have a lot of information perhaps a
lot more information about the
candidates than we do right now will you
be sharing a summary of the
conversations you had with us eventually
in closed session or of the opportunity
have a pretty in-depth conversation on
each of the candidates and you'll have
in from all the information I have I'll
be sharing it with you you have all the
documents as well great so at what point
in this process do we get to hear from
candidate references so once you've
selected the candidate and that you want
to interview we start doing the
reference in the background check so it
once you narrow it down to those who
want to invite to participate in the
interview process that is when we do the
extensive reference checks so that's
where we do we ask them about previous
that supervisors current supervisors
peers co-workers those types of things
and then that's when we start the
reference checks because there's a or
the background check because there's a
cost with every reference check every
background check so we don't want to do
that for a hundred candidates who want
to make sure that we're doing it for
those that you're most interested in do
we only reach out to references that the
candidate lists or are we reaching out
to former employers regardless this is
references so it's not typically a
background check so the references our
references that they provide so yes okay
yeah yep excuse me mayor council
typically with the city we do reach out
to prior employers to get those
reference checks as well great
like yeah I would say that most of the
time in local government do you get do
they do they speak to you other things
verifying employment mayor and council
it sometimes it does depend they're not
always easy to obtain a lot of
organizations now go through automated
systems but we still make that effort
yes I would like us to pressure make
that effort so I will say that the the
background checks verify all employment
education so that is what we what we do
and we certainly can look at the
reference process but what is in our
proposal and what we do and what we've
talked about is a process if it's
something that you want the city to do
after the fact we can certainly expand
it further but we typically talk to
three to four references it's a current
former or supervisor I'm in a lot of
these cases commissioners council
members mayor's is somebody that they
work with a peer and an employee and we
certainly can reach out to local
governments but typically they're not
going to at this level of the position
give you information without being
arrested like a listed reference okay I
definitely would like us to make an
effort I would also like to suggest that
we do a staff panel for sure I don't
know if that's been planned but that's
certainly something I'd like to see I
mean I know that this is our one
employee but essentially a city manager
is has many employees and I think that
they should get a say in the process for
sure
I don't know how we've done that in the
past perhaps I don't know how many
departments do we have we have a lot of
departments 20 right I knew that
so I guess I was thinking perhaps the
department could nominate someone from
their department to be on the staff
panel but I don't know how people
Marin Council I just wanted to mention
we do have a thirteen department that
seems like a totally doable that panel
so so typically that would be your
leadership team because those are the
direct reports that report to the city
manager and then if we were looking at
involving other staff there's ways to
incorporate them into the process
whether that's an specifically an open
house or an event that all staff was
invited to so then they all had the
opportunity to meet the candidates and
provide feedback and we have ways to
engage their feedback and gather input
but we certainly could look at something
different if you wanted to have more
line employees they're just not directly
reporting to the city manager as their
leadership team would so that that that
would just be the difference but we
could have to pay
that's what the cancel council wanted I
think for sure if that panel is needed I
mean this is who they're going to be
working with and and and then maybe the
community panel which includes
businesses and nonprofits perhaps I
think that's right
I mean I think you're like a lot of
stuff don't directly report to the city
manager but the city manager certainly
has a very big ripple effect in the
throughout the city so to me that feels
important and then the last thing I'll
say is that perhaps it's because I'm a
new counselor but I feel very rushed by
the process as it currently is
you know scheduling the next two
interview dates already two weeks away
to me feels I mean I entered this is a
very urgent matter and they you know for
like we need to hire a permanent city
manager but for me in order to have to
hire someone that is strong and powerful
and fit I don't want this process to be
rushed mine canceled I did not select
the states that the council did and the
candidate review meeting was actually
selected and to that it was actually
selected two weeks ago it was it was
moved due to conflicts on your calendar
so I don't select the dates I work with
you and what you provide me so I'm
certainly not trying to rush the process
I'm trying to keep it moving along
because my understanding is that you
want to fill the position and typically
work within a 13 week schedule from
start to finish but I if the council
decides you don't want to hold it on the
17th and 18th that is not a problem we
just have to find a date that works with
the council and that works with
everybody's schedule you're looking at
seven to eight different calendars we're
also working with the candidate
schedules I will tell you that all the
candidates know that those are the dates
that you're looking at we would just
need to notify those that you're
thinking about interviewing what the new
data is but it was certainly not my
intention to rush you throughout the
process there is the beginning it's the
setting up the candidate profile posting
the position we posed for six weeks we
do the screening process we do the
candidate review
and then you do the interview process
thank you Thank You mr. mayor if I may
before I get to counselor FLOTUS just a
very timely so let's just say
hypothetically go to Plan C here maybe
one maybe two they want to interview but
they'd rather do say three or four it
probably would would behoove us just
hold off on those two until they get the
other two and then do them all pretty
much at the same time correct possibly
it depends I always would encourage you
to keep moving ahead or if you decide
you want to postpone I wouldn't postpone
too late
candidates don't stay in the pool and
when we talk about them are candidates
today we have a number of them that are
in current recruitment that are highly
sought after so if they are ones that
you want to interview the likelihood
they will be here in a month is pretty
slim and so the longer you draw up the
process the candidate pool gets smaller
whether that people on this list or even
just people who applied people who are
actively applying for jobs as though
they're probably not just applying for
your job so we tend to lose candidates
that's not to say that two weeks is
going to make a big difference but I
think if we moved it out to much farther
okay counselor Florida Senate counselor
basis TV Thank You mr. mayor and Thank
You mr. I felt I didn't see in my packet
maybe I just rushed through it but I
know that I personally stressed to you
in our one-hour californica conversation
at the beginning of this process how
important certain characteristics of
that candidate would be and I would have
liked to have seen in your packet what
we collectively did because we do not
really talk to each other about a lot of
these things because there's that fear
of that ruling quorum and that sort of
the situation and also because I think
that we're all very independent anyway
and what we have to say is very
important of utmost importance and you
know we don't want to share that but but
I didn't see that and for me
I see your job and I'm not criticizing
you please I don't mean it that way but
I see your position your firm as being
the recruiting firm that is going to
take what we have told you and then
tried and then search for the best
candidate and and it's true we can't do
your job but I didn't see that and I
would have felt a lot more comfortable
if you you or your firm had set forth
all the wants and needs more more the
needs and we need I'll say this again we
need someone who really knows new mexico
has been in new mexico with all due
respect to anybody from any other part
of the world there's just something very
unique about our our state and las
cruces is very different than you know
anything north of highway 40 is not
considered part of New Mexico so let me
it's true I mean we're like the bastard
child of the state can i address but no
okay I'm not done okay so so you you
were gonna say you there was something
in here yeah so I'm gonna say that what
we talked about when I was here before
we don't know what you and I talked
about and I don't know I I didn't see
that the point of those individual
conversations was to develop an ideal
candidate profile and when I was here at
our last meeting we developed the ideal
candidate profile the the council
reviewed it and we looked at what you
were we looked at the ideal candidate
profile and we also talked about the
minimum for qualifications we spent
quite a bit of time talking about that
and so that took every individuals
conversation and kind of took about key
attributes what you were looking for and
put it into a narrative format your
ideal candidate profile so that took
every person's conversations your wants
your needs your desires
it's here and that the ideal candidate
profile as well as the minimum preferred
qualifications we talked about that
as a body I would say we also reviewed
the first year goals which incorporated
a lot of what you talked about during
our phone calls as well I mean so that's
in your binders as well but I think what
a lot of what you're asking the ties to
New Mexico it's hard to pick up on
application materials a lot of what you
were provided we had to be very
comfortable with being subject to public
record so you're I couldn't give you my
phone notes so you don't have the whole
story of every piece of the material so
that's I think a big part of what our
conversations going to be today
hopefully I was able to tie into some of
the specific skill sets or area interest
you were most interested in thank you
Thank You mr. mayor thank you counselor
they just do V and then Telstra sort
Thank You mr. mayor I as a new counselor
I would say one of the things when he
said you talked to everybody on the
council unfortunately that did not
include I know myself in perhaps
councilor Bencomo to get our views on
what we considered an ideal candidate so
just to let everybody know that's not an
a factor that I was able to give an
input process for which is why I have a
lot of questions it looks like most of
them will have to be answered during the
closed session but I do want to stress I
do think it would be really good to have
that staff panel with a different
Department you know when we look at
questions for our candidate that we
consider different community members and
different groups we have a wide variety
of from age groups gender raised
everything so just to make sure that
we're touching upon all those to make
sure that our candidate is able to
interact with all members of our
community at that
high standard and level that we need
them to be and I think that's all for
now but Thank You mr. mayor thank you so
sort Thank You mr. mayor and Jennifer
and I am very interested in these
candidates and I think you are were
willing to share the applicant or the
resumes of other candidates that are not
on the list but I'm most concerned and
are considered interested in what
filters you use to select these ten
candidates here if you could just
outline it very briefly so I yeah so I
would go back to our minimum four
qualifications here on your recruitment
brochure that we developed together so
we talked about the minimum requirements
for this position where a bachelor's
degree and 10 years of progressively
responsible experience in government and
then they were needed to have a role
such as an executive level management
role so a manager assistant manager a
department director those were the
minimums and then the preferred
qualifications included a master's
degree an ICM ACM so a credential an
experience working in the
council-manager form of government and
preferred candidate would also have
success with economic development
budgeting and capital planning community
engagement working with developing
partnerships and working with diverse
stakeholders and at-risk populations so
we started there and I think then you
start looking at whose experience most
closely meets the needs of your council
in your community so project experience
level size of community parts of the
country whether or not I felt like
almost every candidate is on that list
has a tied to New Mexico or really had
desire to work here in some capacity I
asked that question all the time why
this position why now that's a very
typical question I always asked I really
want to hear not just that they're
running away from a job but they really
want to work in your community that
they've done their home
I want to make sure that their
experience is relative to what you need
here not that they've recruited any
business to their community but business
that would be relative and similar to
your needs here so specifically here I
looked for housing experience I looked
for things to how to do with large-scale
economic development and I asked a lot
of questions about working with
underrepresented population I heard that
that was a big concern here that you
wanted to make sure you had a manager
that was sensitive to those issues so I
asked for prime examples key examples of
where they had gone out of their way to
reach some of those at-risk populations
we have two on that list that speak
Spanish fluently others that can read
and write it so I felt like we really I
put together a list where everybody is
not exactly the same they're not all
cookie cutters you have some vitamin
city and county managers I will say that
under County government there's more
social services and health services
you're not gonna find that as much in
city government but I did hear that that
was a desire here on the council so
there were a lot of things that go into
the decision when we get a lot of
applicants you get a lot of people who
think they can run or want to run a city
so I have people who I think there's a
flight instructor on the list there's
somebody who runs a restaurant there's a
lot of experience and they're probably
great people and they be great
applicants for other jobs but whether or
not they're applicable to running a
disorganization I think that that that's
where it's my job to kind of see filter
what I heard you need but also knowing
that somebody has to wrangle you
together to try to get consensus help
facilitate discussions help lead the
organization almost every single
candidate knew about the departure of
your former city manager everybody was
worried about what that meant and for in
terms of morale and what they were
walking into what does relationship look
like you want somebody who's asking
those questions who's aware of what's
going on in your community so those are
all things that I take into
consideration I mean there's no magic
there it's not a science it's an art I
talked to a number of people that I
didn't move forward they'd be great
candidate
in other communities but dealing with
diverse populations was very different
than your issues here smaller
communities I was really looking for
some folks had more public safety
background so I talked to a few but
there weren't such small communities I
didn't feel like it would be appropriate
there's their skills were very strong
but your issues are more complex
so maybe what they've dealt with in a
community of 5,000 so those are all the
things that I think about when I talk to
candidates and I look at a list you know
it's a big list until you start
narrowing it down as to how you want to
frame it and who I want to bring forward
to you thank you that was very well
presented and I can see you analyzed it
pretty well but in the end was would you
admit there's a little bit of
subjectivity in your decisions here of
who to pick for the top 10 I mean like I
said I said it's an art so I think it
goes to what I heard you want I mean we
definitely look at those minimum
preferred qualifications every one of
those candidates are gonna meet that I
understand yeah so what I tell
candidates you apply and don't move on
to the next level I'm like I might what
our response often is it it really
depends on the candidate pool we did
receive 25 applicants somebody who might
have been a department head in a smaller
community very well might have moved up
in the pool but we had a tremendous
level and number of people who'd been
team managers city managers village
managers like so then it became more
about okay then who is most similar to
what you're looking for here in Las
Cruces I get it okay thank you very much
thank you mr. mayor Pro temp thank you
Mary thank you John
I appreciate hearing your process and
sort of a question did you have a rubric
where you attach points to each of those
questions if you were a qualification so
we use a point system so it's just one
to five but so five are the ones that
meet all the qualifications but not all
fives move forward it's really one
through five and so oftentimes and
there's a first level of screening that
happens before I even get into the
system so and then I look through them
again so okay thank you thank you I
appreciate and will be able to see that
my system but yeah I mean certainly
you're gonna have the opportunity to
look at the full applicant list and you
can look at their application materials
if you want okay perfect thank you so
Jen are you going to be available if we
need you during closed session oh I
should be in the closed session with you
yes okay well in the beginning you won't
okay good just want to make sure before
we go into closed session any closing
questions yeah one more question um was
your you just said it's your process so
this isn't like a streamline process
through the Novak consulting company on
how you have narrowed down a candidate
pool for well this is the process that
our firm uses but our firm is that's
what I'm asking yeah but so is it just
you or do you have a team of people
helping you narrow down our firm is our
firm is bigger I mean now we have a
we're part of rap tell us financial so
we have over 130 employees but our
search for site is three people so it is
me and a recruitment specialist who is
reviewing the applications for your
particular search if it's a different
search then it's a different lead
Katherine tuck parish leads other
searches okay so for our contract that
you have with us it was you and one
other person okay Thank You mr. mayor
and council Bencomo this process did get
started I believe it was last
we've been so unfortunately you were out
there campaigning at the time but the
contacts have been made and so miss
Reich field has been where Wright has
been working on this or just yeah so
yeah
doesn't feel too rushed to it thank you
Thank You mr. mayor okay so looks like
we're going to go ahead and close this
meeting out here and then we're gonna go
into closed session and that'll be it
for the rest of the day so I entertain
motion to adjourn so moved second motion
babe accounts are Florida's second by
Mayor Pro Tem gondola that we adjourn
all those favor signify by saying aye
aye those opposed okay
we're adjourned 8:45 a.m. thank you