As soon as the job announcement for the Sequim city manager position was posted last week on the city’s Web site, the telephone calls and applications began arriving.
"We’re having a fairly good response. I’m surprised by the number of calls I’m receiving," said recruiter Lee Walton, the Bremerton resident and former city manager hired in late July to conduct the city manager search.
"(City human resources director Kathy Brown) was saying she already is getting applications. Usually people need time to research the area and the job and discuss it with their families," he said.
Walton said the advertisement actually was posted a couple of days earlier on other Web sites targeted at city employees and the first telephone calls began coming in then.
It boils down the consensus from the city manager search meetings held during the previous weeks so people can see if they are interested in the job, Walton said.
"Anybody who’s really serious will reach me and ask me about other things not listed," he said.
Now he is preparing a more functional job description for council review sometime in September, Walton said.
It will include the
"duties, responsibilities and authorities" of the city manager in more detail than just what is included in state law, he said.
A preliminary screening will reduce the applications to a manageable number, then those will go to the council in executive session for finalists, Walton said.
Following background
checks, the council hopes to hold face-to-face interviews in mid- to late October, he said.
"The council hasn’t given me direction on whether those will be public or private. They might want to solicit other opinions. I’ll be talking to the council and they will give me direction on what they want to do," Walton said.
The city manager position’s salary range, as set by council at its Aug. 11 meeting, is $95,000 to $115,000 "plus excellent benefits." The application deadline is Sept. 26.
Requirements include a bachelor’s degree in public administration or a related field with a master’s degree desirable.
They also include seven years experience, preferably as a city manager, city administrator, assistant manager or major department head.
The successful candidate will be taking over a city with a $22.5 million budget, including a $8.1 million general fund and 79 employees, although three of those positions are vacant.
According to the Washington State Office of Financial Management, Sequim’s 2008 population was 5,610 as of April 1 which is a 29.4-percent increase from the 2000 population of 4,334.
The city’s assessed valuation increased by 164 percent in that same period, from $322.3 million in 2000 (for 2001 taxes) to $851.2 million in 2007 (for 2008 taxes).
The brochure states the city is the retail trade and service center for the 25,000 residents living in the Dungeness Valley. It also notes the area’s attractiveness to retirees and reputation for having one of the healthiest environments in the country.
It also cites many of the issues facing the council, such as regulating growth while retaining the city’s desirable characteristics, the need for a city hall and police station and repair and expansion of the streets.
Other issues cited include "foster the values of teamwork, collaboration and transparency" and "assist council to promote and implement a successful public outreach program and improve confidence in city governance."
