LETTER TO THE EDITOR / CITY MANAGER – WHY NOT THE BEST?

Roger C. Kostmayer

In a democracy, the quality, competence and integrity of the individuals who serve the public determine the quality of life. In Key West the public servant with the most power over the longest period is the City Manager.

We the people elect six Commissioners and one Mayor who, in turn, select the City Manager. This position acts as the Chief Operating Officer who runs the government and implements the commission’s decisions. In Key West, the City Manager is a powerful responsibility that has an enormous impact on the success or failure of our local government, and on our future. Jim Scholl, the current CM, is retiring and our community needs his successor to be even better and more talented in order to deal with a range of 21st century challenges, from housing to global warming.

The key to success in staffing is Selection – if you want and expect the best results, you must have competition to find and hire the best candidate. The generally accepted process to achieve this goal is to conduct a professional national search that will identify and screen the most qualified city manager candidates from across the country. The search should include potential candidates in KW or the Keys, as well as the best candidates anywhere in the US who have the required talents, knowledge and experience. Professional executive search consultants who specialize in this, build a universe of suspects (most of whom are not looking for a job) and then winnow this group down to a small number of the very best and most qualified finalists who fit KW needs – from which the best finalist is hired.

A national search is the right process for attracting the best candidate for KW, and for the future of our community. One of the first responsibilities of the new City Manager should be a succession plan that will produce an even better successor next time.

Failure to use the best process, one that insures that KW attracts the best City Manager, would be a serious and short sighted mistake.

Roger C. Kostmayer

Key West

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