The Sunnyvale Sun

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Public input will be sought in search for city manager

By Cody Kraatz

Wide public input will be invited as the city recruits a new city manager to replace Amy Chan, who in December 2007 announced her intention to retire.

William Avery & Associates, the city's hired recruitment firm, will begin the search by defining the profile of an ideal city manager through meetings with members of the Sunnyvale City Council, the city's department heads and employee union representatives.

Residents and city employees will also be invited to e-mail, phone or mail their concept of the ideal city manager, who serves as the city's equivalent of a CEO.

"I like the idea of opening this up to everybody and letting them sort of self-select if they want to," said Councilwoman Melinda Hamilton.

A three-member subcommittee of council members will oversee the profile process and suggest the number, size and composition of panels that will share their evaluations of the final candidates with the council.

"I want to have input from all the people that this person will come in contact with," said Mayor Tony Spitaleri, who will sit on the subcommittee.

The full council will have to formally approve the profile and appoint the panels, which will likely include department heads, employee representatives, businesses and active community members.

Councilman Dave Whittum voted against the two subcommittee tasks, which passed 6-1, arguing that the full council should be directly involved at all levels of those discussions.

The number of people involved in the panels will likely be roughly 20 for confidentiality reasons and to keep from exhausting the candidates.

The profile will be advertised in industry publications and also to current qualified city employees.

The search is estimated to take about five months, unless the pool of qualified candidates becomes a challenge because of retirements and competition from other Bay Area cities.

Chan will stay on until a replacement is hired.