HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 01 City Manager Recruitment
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: 4/1/2019
Meeting Type: Work Session
Staff Contact/Dept.: Mary Bridget
Smith/CAO
Staff Phone No: 541-744-4061
Estimated Time: 60 Minutes
S P R I N G F I E L D
C I T Y C O U N C I L
Council Goals: Mandate
ITEM TITLE:
CITY MANAGER RECRUITMENT
ACTION
REQUESTED:
Provide guidance for community engagement and interview process for ongoing
City Manager recruitment.
ISSUE
STATEMENT:
The purpose of this item is to obtain guidance from the Council for the written
questionnaire, online interview questions, community engagement, interview
process, and interview panel questions for the upcoming City Manager recruitment.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Council Briefing Memorandum
Attachment 2: Draft City Manager Candidate Written Questionnaire
Attachment 3: Draft Online Interview Questions
Attachment 4: Draft City Council Interview Panel Questions
DISCUSSION/
FINANCIAL
IMPACT:
City Manager, Gino Grimaldi, is retiring effective June 30, 2018 and the City
Council is currently recruiting for his replacement. The position has been posted
and is scheduled to close on April 8, 2019.
After the position closes, the Council will evaluate the candidates consistent with
the methodology approved at the February 19, 2019 regular session. That process
includes items such as the candidates responding to a written questionnaire, media
search, background check, and in-person interviews.
M E M O R A N D U M City of Springfield
Date: 4/1/2019
To: Gino Grimaldi, City Manager COUNCIL
From: Mary Bridget Smith, City Attorney BRIEFING
Subject: City Manager Recruitment MEMORANDUM
ISSUE:
The purpose of this item is to obtain guidance from the Council for the written questionnaire,
online interview questions, community engagement, interview process, and interview panel
questions for the upcoming City Manager recruitment.
COUNCIL GOALS/MANDATE:
Council Goals: Mandate
BACKGROUND:
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide the Council with more specific information about
the City Manager recruitment process and to obtain guidance about the written questionnaire for
semi-finalist candidates, community engagement component, interview process, and interview
panel questions.
Initial Screening and Review: The Council is scheduled to meet with the recruiter on Tuesday,
April 23, 2019 in Executive Session for an initial review of the applicants. The recruiter will
provide all of the information to the Council and there will not be a regular packet of
information to review. Instead, he will walk through the potential applicants so the Council can
determine which candidates should move forward to become semi-finalist candidates. Note this
is not a regularly scheduled Council meeting time and the only topic the Council will discuss is
the initial screening and review of candidates.
Evaluation of Semi-finalist Candidates: The evaluation of the semi-finalist candidates will occur
in a subsequent Executive Session and include a Stage 1 Media Search, personal interaction with
the recruiter, a recorded online interview, and a written questionnaire. This information will be
used to select the finalist candidates that will be invited for an in-person interview.
The purpose of the written questionnaire is to provide a comprehensive written exercise
designed to provide greater insight into the candidates’ thought processes and communication
styles. It focuses generally on five to six key areas and will be included in the semi-finalist
briefing book along with cover letters and resumes.
Please provide feedback on Attachment 2, Draft City Manager Candidate Written Questionnaire.
The recorded online interview has fewer questions, but provides an efficient and cost effective
way to gain additional information about the candidates. It allows the Council to evaluate the
candidates’ technological competence, demeanor, verbal communication skills, and on camera
presence. This information will also be provided to the Council as part of the semi-finalist
briefing book. The four proposed questions for the online interview are on Attachment 3.
Attachment 1, Page 1 of 3
MEMORANDUM 3/27/2019 Page 2
Please provide feedback on Attachment 3, Draft Online Interview Questions.
Interview Process: The most critical part of evaluating the finalist candidates will be the in-
person interview process which is currently anticipated to occur in August.
The following is a sample schedule for your feedback.
Sample Schedule:
Day 1 City Council Panel Interview
City Executive Team Panel Interview
Day 2 Round Robin Meetings with individual Councilors
City Tour facilitated by City staff
Day 3 Community Engagement Event(s)
City Council Executive Session deliberations with recruiter to decide next steps
Please provide feedback on the proposed schedule.
Community Engagement: At the last meeting, Council gave feedback that they are interested in
a structured community engagement that includes inviting a cross-section of the community and
community leaders where the candidates are required to address the audience in some manner
and perhaps even answer questions. The cross-section of the community would include people
such as students, parents, business owners, and community group leaders.
Please confirm you would like this type of community engagement.
Panel Interviews: In this proposal, the candidates are interviewed by the Council and Executive
Team in separate interview panels. The Executive Team will provide feedback to the Council in
terms of strengths, weaknesses, and overall comments, but not a scored ranking. The feedback
will occur by the facilitator of the Executive Team interview and the staff member who did the
City tour providing in-person feedback to the Council, so the Council may ask questions and
have a dialogue with those persons.
Panel Interview Questions: A critical part of the interview process will be developing the
interview questions. Generally, a panel will get through 9-10 questions with the 10th question
being an opportunity for the candidate to ask questions. City Council will have final approval of
the interview questions, but the recruiter and Human Resources Department will assist with
ensuring that the questions solicit the type of information the Council would like to know and
make sure the City Council and Executive Team panel questions are not repetitive. Attachment
4 are draft City Council Interview Panel Questions for your review. The italicized information
provides the topics and qualities that the question is meant to solicit.
The Executive Team can develop its own set of questions starting with any questions that were
not chosen by the Council from this list and the Council will have the final approval of the
Executive Team questions.
Please provide feedback on interview questions.
Attachment 1, Page 2 of 3
MEMORANDUM 3/27/2019 Page 3
Executive Session Deliberations to Select Candidate: After the interviews and community
engagement, the Council will meet in Executive Session and deliberate with the recruiter. At
that meeting, the Council may come to a consensus on the selection of a candidate or request
more information including a possible second interview or direct the recruiter to start the process
over. In some cases, some Council members even do a site visit to a candidate’s community.
After the Council makes a selection, the recruiter will perform reference checks and the
negotiation process can begin.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Provide guidance for community engagement and interview
process for ongoing City Manager recruitment.
Attachment 1, Page 3 of 3
Draft City Manager Candidate Written Questionnaire
Full Name (first, middle, last):
Nicknames (if any):
Please provide your cell, home, and office numbers to facilitate contacting you if needed.
Cell:
Home:
Office:
Please answer each of the following questions completely and thoroughly.
General Questions
1. Please detail the specific departments you have supervised.
2. Please explain why you left your last three positions.
3. Are there any gaps in excess of 30 days (excluding for a legal protected reason) in your
employment history? If so, please explain in detail.
4. What would elected officials describe as your primary strengths? What would elected
officials describe as your primary areas for improvement?
5. What would employees describe as your primary strengths? What would employees
describe as your primary areas for improvement?
6. How do you create a culture that relies on meaningful performance measurement and
cost-effective service delivery?
7. What areas do you perceive that you need to be working on to become a better leader
and manager, and what are you doing to accomplish this?
8. Please describe your philosophy and approach to building a strong team environment
and motivating your employees to perform at their highest levels.
9. How do you facilitate open and transparent communication with City Council, staff,
residents, and other stakeholders?
10. If you are selected for this position, what do you believe will be your greatest, most
immediate challenge in your new role?
11. Please describe your experience in municipal financial management and budget
development.
12. Please describe your experience and skills in economic development and describe one
or two projects of which you are most proud.
Attachment 2, Page 1 of 2
13. If you were selected and offered an acceptable compensation package, what concerns
or hesitations do you have that would have to be resolved before you would be ready to
accept the position?
14. What will we find in an Internet search of press coverage that may be controversial or of
concern to the City? Please provide whatever explanation you think is appropriate to
help us understand what we will find.
15. What are the three most important questions you have for the City of Springfield?
Attachment 2, Page 2 of 2
Draft Online Interview Questions
1. Please describe why you want to work for the City of Springfield and what you would
bring to the City.
2. What is your proudest professional accomplishment, and your biggest professional
disappointment?
3. Please describe your leadership style.
4. Please provide an example of something you have done that was highly innovative and
produced notable results.
Attachment 3, Page 1 of 1
Draft City Council Interview Panel Questions
1. Tell us about yourself and what interests you in the City Manager position? What do you see
as the threats and opportunities facing our city?
(Looking for: Ambitious, articulate, has researched Springfield.)
2. If selected for the City Manager position, how would you go about establishing yourself in
the position with the Department staff, City and Community?
(Looking for: Adaptable, resourceful, initiative.)
3. Tell me about your current position or most recent position and how you helped the
organization accomplish its goals and mission.
(Looking for: Results-driven, strategic thinker, collaborative.)
4. What is your own philosophy of management and provide us with an example of
demonstrates your application of that philosophy.
(Looking for: Decisive, judgment, develops others.)
5. Tell me about your fiscal management experience: budgeting, reporting, cutting costs,
building and maintaining reserves.
(Looking for: Analytical, results-driven, strategic thinker.)
6. Tell me about your experiences with staff development. How did you measure outcomes?
(Looking for: Develops others, conceptual, results-driven.)
7. How do you think your current or most recent staff would describe you?
(Looking for: Authenticity, self-aware.)
8. Describe a situation in which you were able to effectively "read" another person and guide
your actions by your understanding of their individual needs or values.
(Looking for: Personable, perceptive, collaborative.)
9. Give a specific example of a time when you had to address a complaint from an angry or
unhappy person. What was the problem and what was the outcome? How would you assess
your role in diffusing the situation?
(Looking for: Composed, diplomatic, customer-oriented.)
10. Give me an example of a time where a decision you made turned out to be a horrible idea.
What happened, and what did you do about it?
(Looking for: Judgment, quality commitment, continuous learner.)
11. Describe for me a situation where you had a positive effect on someone. What did you do?
How did the other person react? Why do you think what happened, happened?
(Looking for: Initiative, optimistic, develops others, perceptive.)
Attachment 4, Page 1 of 2
12. Please describe a time when you had to accomplish or address an issue that required working
with multi-jurisdictional stakeholders. What was the outcome?
(Looking for: Committed, diplomatic, results-driven.)
13. Based on what you know about the City Manager position, what areas do you feel that you
need further improvement or development in?
(Looking for: Self-aware, researched the position, goal-oriented.)
14. Tell me about a time when you had to prioritize limited resources. What factors influenced
your decision?
(Looking for: Strategic thinker, problem solver, judgment.)
15. What is a question that I should have asked you during this interview but didn’t?
Attachment 4, Page 2 of 2