Valley to use consultant to find new city manager

The Spokane Valley City Council decided to hire an external consultant to recruit a new city manager.

John Whitehead, director of human resources for Spokane Valley, said the council could undertake the hiring by itself, but explained that a recruiter tends to have a broader network to pull from and is the most common method for hiring city managers in the state.

Whitehead added that hiring a consultant also tends to get rid of any notion of favoritism.

“If it’s done internally there may be a concern that staff is overly involved in selecting someone who ultimately will be the staff’s boss,” Whithead said. “Having a recruiter is just a cleaner process for the council to deal with.”

The council agreed on appointing a small working committee consisting of Mayor Rod Higgins, Councilman Ed Pace, City Attorney Cary Driskell and Whitehead to provide ongoing assistance and answers to smaller questions that may come up during the application process.

Whitehead said he’s confident the search can be done for $35,000, including travel and other expenses.

Spokane Valley resident Nina Fluegal asked why the council couldn’t just promote from within and save $35,000.

“We have a good man in the job,” Fluegal said, pointing to acting city manager Mark Calhoun. “Can’t we just promote him?”

Deputy Mayor Arne Woodard said he would like to save $35,000 as well, but that he would like to look at a greater community of prospects “We don’t know if anyone on city staff would apply,” Woodard said.

This process does not exclude acting city manager Mark Calhoun from applying for the job.

The hiring of a new city manager is not expected to take more than three months.