Iowa City gets moving on manager search

IOWA CITY - The City Council needed just 15 minutes or so to get going on its city manager search.

Council members met Monday night to discuss the search for the first time in several months. They'd been waiting until after November's election, which saw two new members elected.

Click here for a story about the meeting.

The council quickly agreed that hiring a consultant to aid in the search was the best way to go.

“I don't think there's really a choice,” Connie Champion said.

Search firms have good contacts in the profession, experience identifying candidates and are generally well organized, council members said.

Ross Wilburn said it offers “a more efficient way you can get the process going.”

Terry Dickens did note that the firm used in the previous search, the PAR Group, came highly recommended but didn't work out too well. That search lasted several months, saw an initial slate of candidates brought in for interviews and then rejected by the council and resulted in the hiring of Michael Lombardo, who was fired after less than a year on the job.

PAR Group is now out of business.

But council members on Monday agreed the new search would benefit from a consultant.