SJB is right to do interviews
You would suppose that the owner of the only gas station in San
Juan Bautista holds face-to-face interviews with job applicants,
but the Mission City’s top officials appeared ready to bring in
another city manager without actually talking to the candidates in
person.
Fortunately, though, the council made the right decision after
getting negative feedback from the public and scheduled those
in-person interviews with five finalists for next week.
SJB is right to do interviews
You would suppose that the owner of the only gas station in San Juan Bautista holds face-to-face interviews with job applicants, but the Mission City’s top officials appeared ready to bring in another city manager without actually talking to the candidates in person.
Fortunately, though, the council made the right decision after getting negative feedback from the public and scheduled those in-person interviews with five finalists for next week.
In light of the past few city managers and the turmoil they have brought to the table, it was quite surprising that San Juan leaders were ready to take the quick, easy route again instead of doing their homework and taking the time to hire the best candidate possible for the interim manager opening.
City Clerk Trish Paetz noted two weeks ago how San Juan had posted the position on the city’s website and around town – once again, just about the slightest outreach effort possible – and that council members planned to hire an interim manager without interviewing candidates in person. As she noted, they “just want to get moving on this,” as if a time bomb was ticking and ready to ignite at any moment.
Following public outcry, however, councilmembers made the right call and scheduled those interviews.
This, in particular, is not the time to rush a decision on the top position in San Juan Bautista, a city hurt immensely by the economic downturn, largely due to its heavy reliance on tourism and discretionary dollars.
The next interim city manager might, after all, become the next permanent city manager – as Steve Julian had before his abrupt departure in May – and certainly will play in important role in the short term as the day-to-day leader of government operations in a town of 1,900 people.
And considering the size of the city, it’s also a good thing that council members have plans to pay the next manager significantly less in compensation than Julian. The retiree from other city manager positions worked as an independent contractor for San Juan and received no benefits, but he made $120,000 annually – more than Hollister’s city manager – under a contract loaded with provisions favorable to him, such as allowing him to make his own hours and not requiring he meet any minimum number of hours worked in a given time frame.
On the city’s part, it was a completely irresponsible contract. Now council members appear headed down the right path.
They have to be realistic about who is affordable. But they never should sell themselves short, especially in this economy with so many people out of work, and take whatever comes their way.
