Council votes to hire consultant
October 27, 2011
ROCKLAND — The Rockland City Council unanimously agreed Wednesday night, Oct. 26 to hire a firm to help it search for a new city manager.
The council voted 5-0 to hire the firm of Eaton Peabody for up to $5,000.
At the start of the meeting, during the public comment session, resident Louise MacLellan-Ruf criticized what she called the council's outsourcing of services that could be done with existing staff or by the council.
She cited the $2,000 spent to hire someone to moderate a meeting over the future use of the former MacDougal School as an example of something that could have been done without hiring an outside person. She noted each of the councilors have moderated a meeting at some point and could have moderated the MacDougal meeting.
Craig Freshley of Good Group Decisions from Brunswick was hired by the city to facilitate what the city called a "charrette" and to prepare a report of all comments and themes that emerge from the discussions.
Councilors, however, defended the use of outside consultants or people to help with some work.
Councilor Eric Hebert noted in regard to the search for a city manager, councilors do not have the time to do all the work necessary to do a proper search. He noted they each have day jobs.
The search will require background checks of candidates, telephone calls to people in the community where they are from, a lot of correspondences, and considerable time to schedule interviews.
"If there are 50 candidates, it's not feasible for a volunteer board," Hebert said.
Councilor Elizabeth Dickerson said that the hiring of a city manager will be the most important decision councilors will make, an action that could affect the city for 10 years or more.
Councilor William Clayton noted he has never conducted a search for a manager and that professional assistance is called for in this matter.
Councilor Larry Pritchett said that 90 percent of communities that search for a manager use either Eaton Peabody or the Maine Municipal Association.
"What we're doing is the norm," Pritchett said.
Councilors interviewed Eaton Peabody and MMA during the past week.
The council is searching to replace Rosemary Kulow who resigned Oct. 3 to take the job of Poland's town manager. Finance Director Tom Luttrell is serving as interim manager.
Courtesy of the Village Soup
By Stephen Betts
