Friday, April 11, 2008

Cities close in on administrators

Sun Valley, Ketchum move forward in hiring process


By JON DUVAL
Express Staff Writer

Both Ketchum and Sun Valley are looking to have permanent senior staff members in place by the beginning of summer, if all goes according to plan.

The two cities are in the midst of evaluating candidates for the position of city administrator, which are being filled in the interim by Jim Jaquet and Jerry Osterman, respectively.

Jaquet, who had previously served as Ketchum City Administrator during his 25-year career with the city, stepped into the void created when Ron LeBlanc left in December after holding the post for five years.

Osterman, who took over as Sun Valley City Administrator in January, is the second interim administrator at the city since Virginia Egger stepped down in last June.

If both cities are able to stick to their current schedules, the permanent replacements should be behind their desks on June 1.

Helping with the process for both cities is contracted executive search consultant Greg Prothman, who was responsible for Osterman's interim placement.

At a Sun Valley City Council meeting in February, Prothman said that although the searches are going on concurrently and for neighboring cities, he would be performing unrelated searches in order to ensure that the unique needs of each city was considered.

Prothman met separately with the Sun Valley and Ketchum city councils and mayors during executive sessions on Monday, April 7, helping narrow down the two cities' lists of respective applicants.

"The pool looks very strong," Jaquet said of the 27 applications received by Ketchum. "The search is coming along and basically this was the first cut."

Jaquet did not say to what degree the list had already been pared, but said that this week's meeting will be followed by another in April to shorten the list even further, ending with personal interviews, now scheduled for May 13.

Jaquet said that by this point, the city should have the number of final contestants down to between four and six and that the council and mayor will make the decision.

"We want someone that has experience in managing and administrating in a situation as similar as possible," Jaquet said. "Does this person know about resort communities? Affordable housing? Do they have experience with a Urban Renewal Agency?"

Sun Valley Mayor Wayne Willich said that while experience was equally important in his city as its neighbor, there were still differences to take into account.

"Ketchum has a sizeable commercial core, whereas we have the resort," said Willich, who will have the ultimate responsibility of appointing the new administrator. "However, we're taking a consensus approach and want everyone comfortable with the selection."

Sun Valley has a slightly larger pool to select from, having received a total of 47 applications from 21 different states for the job. Like Ketchum, this list will be culled down to around eight, according to Willich, before the final list of three to five will be invited for in-person interviews.

"It will be hard to knock down," Willich said of the applicant list. "These people are dynamite, with great backgrounds and strong educations."

For Willich, who is still early on into his first political foray, and some of the newer members of the City Council, the selection will be particularly important.

"I'm new at public service and have relied heavily on Jerry's experience and background as an administrator," Willich said of the current interim. "It wouldn't work to have me train his replacement. Hopefully, like Jerry, the new administrator will have a strong advisory role, but won't step in front of the city officials and try to lead."




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