Canby has a new city administrator…probably. We just don’t know who it is yet. The city has spent several months engaged in recruiting a replacement for current City Administrator Rick Robinson, who is retiring at the end of October.
From an initial pool of 54 applicants, the city and its hired recruiter, Peckham & McKenney, winnowed the field to five, then to two: Scott McClure, of the city of Monmouth, and Brian Latta, of the city of Harrisburg.
After a grueling series of interviews that included several community panels and a public meet and greet, the City Council had their man. But he hasn’t been announced yet, pending background checks and contract negotiations.
Here’s Mayor Brian Hodson, giving the latest at last week’s City Council meeting.
Council President Tim Dale encouraged Hodson to refrain from naming the candidate until an offer sheet is signed, as the public scrutiny could upset the apple cart. And he’s right about that: Anyone involved in HR or hiring knows how negotiations with a preferred candidate can fall apart once the real talk about compensation gets started.
Once those details are in place, the final decision will be made by the council in open session.
The council has a special meeting scheduled tonight, July 24, the primary purpose of which is to interview and ultimately select a candidate to replace City Councilor Tracie Heidt. However, the agenda for that meeting was recently amended to include one additional item: “City Administrator Recruitment Update.”
It’s not known if this will be the announcement of the signed contract with the new administrator, or more likely, just a general update. We will keep you posted.