Home Antioch Antioch City Council Votes Down Ad-Hoc Committee for City Manager Recruitment

Antioch City Council Votes Down Ad-Hoc Committee for City Manager Recruitment

by ECT

During the Nov. 23 Antioch City Council Meeting, the council opted against the formation of a City Manager Ad-hoc Committee to interview/evaluate recruiting firms for the purposes of selecting the next city manager.

The motion failed in a 2-3 vote after both Councilmembers Mike Barbanica and Lori Ogorchock volunteered. Mayor Lamar Thorpe stated both Barbanica and Ogorchock were his nominations. Only two seconds later vote against them with Mayor Pro Tem Monica Wilson and Tamisha Torres-Walker also voted no.

The move comes after the Nov. 9 council meeting where the council voted to hiring Cornelius Johnson as interim city manager via a 3-2 vote with Barbanica and Ogorchock dissenting. Johnson’s hiring is pending a background check. If hired, he would receive a 1-year contract at $20,137 per month with full authority.  By not moving forward with the recruitment process, it ensures Johnson will remain interim city manager for a longer period of time.

Had it been approved, the two-member City Manager Ad-Hoc Recruitment Committee would serve for a limited time from appointment to approximately April 30, 2022, or when their role is completed, whichever first occurs.

Several firms had been identified to receive a request for proposal.

The typical timeline for the process may be:

  •  Solicit proposals and select a recruiting firm – 6 weeks
  • Meet with the recruiter and develop desired qualifications – 2 weeks
  • Recruiter conducts a search for candidates – 8 weeks
  • Recruiter interviews top 10 – 15 candidates – 2 weeks
  • Recruiter meets with Council to review results of interviews – 2 weeks
  • Council interviews top six candidates – 2 weeks
  • Council interviews top two candidates – 1 week
  • Council makes an offer and negotiations commence – 2 weeks
  • New City Manager starts work – 4 weeks

After the recruitment firm is selected and once the application date closes for candidates, decisions made regarding the screening and interview process of individual City Manager candidates qualify for City Council Closed Session discussions.

Discussion Recap:

“I am not sure we need an ad-hoc committee for this,” said Mayor Lamar Thorpe.  “I think in the past we designated two people to represent us,” said Thorpe.

Thorpe was corrected by staff who said it was an ad-hoc.

“I think we have a years’ worth of time so I don’t think we need to get started asap but if the council wants to move forward I’ll nominate whoever you want me to nominate,” said Thorpe.

Mayor Pro Tem Monica Wilson chimed in saying she needed more time on this because there was a lot going on.

“I would say wait until after the new year, there is a lot going on and I would just like a little bit of time before we jump into this and get this finalized,” said Wilson.

Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock stated she was ready to move on this and “would be happy to do it”.

Councilman Mike Barbanica also volunteered.

Mayor Thorpe then stated they had two people volunteer and those were his nominations to serve on the ad-hoc committee. The motion was made to approve the ad-hoc committee, its members and the termination date.

Thorpe, Wilson and Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker voted against the motion which failed in a 2-3 vote.

Since the item failed in a Antioch council vote, it will come back at a later date not yet determined.

You may also like

1 comment

Robert C. Nov 29, 2021 - 11:29 am

“Clownish” is one of the more printable adjectives that describes this city council.

Comments are closed.