The Hollister City Council unanimously approved spending $25,000 to hire a recruiting firm to find a new city manager, with City Councilmember Honor Spencer absent from the vote.
The city voted to hire CPS HR Consulting, A Sacramento based firm, which, according to its website, is “an executive search is a recruitment that identifies and recruits for individuals to fill vacancies in positions of leadership in public agencies.”
In April the council voted to distribute requests for proposals to executive search firms to find qualified candidates to replace current city manager Bill Avera, who announced his November retirement at a Feb. 19 council meeting.
The city formed an ad hoc committee of Mayor Ignacio Velazquez and Vice Mayor Marty Richman to help with the city manager selection process. The whole process is expected to take 14 to 16 weeks to complete, according to the agreement.
When Avera first announced his retirement, there was unanimous agreement from the council that the task of identifying candidates would be outsourced to an agency as opposed to using city staff. However, the council split 3-2 when it came to whether or not to immediately hire a permanent city manager.
Velazquez and Councilmember Rolan Resendiz previously had said they wanted an interim city manager who would come into the role and evaluate the Hollister government, making recommendations. The council majority, led by Richman, disagreed.
