Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
The Salem City Council held a work session last Thursday in the Council Chambers Conference Room to discuss the executive search for a new city manager following current City Manager Jay Taliaferro’s announcement in early July that he plans to retire on Nov. 1.
All five members of the council, including Hunter Holliday, Bill Jones, Randy Foley, Vice Mayor Jim Wallace and Mayor Renée Turk, were present. The session lasted just under two hours.
To facilitate the search, the city has obtained the services of The Berkley Group, a Virginia and North Carolina-based consulting firm specializing in public sector administration, community development and planning, education, human resources and public safety. The group previously helped develop the city’s new pay scales.
Representatives present from the group were executive managers Karen Edmonds and Joseph Paxton. Edmonds is described as having over 30 years of public sector human resources experience, notably having been the human resources director for Montgomery County and the town of Blacksburg before that. Paxton served as the county administrator for Rockingham County from 2004-2016.
“We are privileged and honored to be a part of this selection process. We appreciate the opportunity,” Edmonds said.
Paxton added that he appreciates the opportunity to work with the council. “Anything we can do to make this process easier…it’s a difficult process I know. We’re here to try to help you do that,” he said. “We’re not here to tell you who to hire. We’re here to give you information about candidates and help you make the decision that you feel is best for the city. You know Salem better than we do.”
A range of topics related to the search were discussed including the potential salary, education and experience requirements and desired attributes. Council members also provided information about the city and what makes it unique.
Based on the feedback the council provided to Edmonds and Paxton, the group will develop a profile of the city and job description. It’s expected to be distributed publicly later this month, with an application window of roughly a month.
Edmonds noted that once the job has been distributed, potential candidates will likely start looking into the city to see if they’re interested in it. They will look at the local newspapers and review online council meeting minutes, she said. “It’s always a good time to highlight the positives about your community in any way you can,” she said. “As much as possible, the council should try and seek consensus on the critical needs and priorities that exist in Salem. The things you’d like to see.”
Turk was identified as a “spokesperson” for the council in dealing with the group. Information will be funneled back and forth between the two by her. Weekly updates will be provided to the council on the number of applicants once applications start coming in.
Once the application window has closed, the group will aggregate the candidate data into groups based on the qualifications. From there, it will hold virtual interviews with some of the candidates and provide summaries to the council.
The council will then select the candidates it would like to interview in person.
As part of the search process, the group performs reference checks, background checks and web searches on the candidates who will be interviewed in person. Paxton said the review process can’t ensure surprises won’t come up after a city manager has been hired, but that the search of their web presence will hopefully bring to light most potential concerns.
The group estimated it will take to the end of the year or early next year before a new manager will take over the job. The search could be delayed slightly due to the holidays in the final months of the year.
Edmonds encouraged the council to come to a unanimous consensus on the vote for the next city manager, if possible. “You may not all agree on the candidates, but bringing somebody in with a split vote is difficult for that person to get started and feel accepted,” she said.
