A new manager next summer?

Assistant City Manager Mark Washington and Human Resources Department Director Joya Hayes on Tuesday laid out for City Council a timeline for hiring a new city manager, beginning with hiring an executive search firm and then finally selecting a new manager in April or May. After a lengthy executive session on the matter, Mayor Steve Adler said that Council would have additional discussions – both about an interim city manager and about selection of the new manager – at a meeting on Monday as well as at Tuesday’s work session. Washington said that staff could get started right away on putting together a request for proposals to find the executive search firm. Adler told his colleagues that he had been working with Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo on a process for selection of the new manager. He posted an item on the City Council Message Board that included an idea about a group appointed by Council to give recommendations on various items throughout the process. Adler and Tovo suggested that each Council member appoint one member of the group, with Adler’s appointment being the chair and Tovo’s appointment being the vice chair. All members of the group should live in the city of Austin; lobbyists and people who have contracts with the city need not apply.