Iowa City council looks for new city manager

As the City Council looks for a new city manager, it should follow a process similar to the last search but with a couple of tweaks, Mayor Matt Hayek said.

In a letter to his council colleagues released Thursday, Hayek said he'd like to hire a search firm to identify candidates and have finalists meet with the public.

But in a change from last time, he'd like three committees, in addition to the council, to interview finalists.

Council members are to discuss Hayek's ideas on Monday, which will be their initial meeting on the city manager search.

The council is looking for a permanent replacement for Michael Lombardo, who was fired for undisclosed reasons last April after less than a year on the job. Assistant City Manager Dale Helling has been filling in.

The firm the council used in the Lombardo search has since gone out of business, and Hayek said whether to hire a consultant this time around would be the primary objective of Monday's meeting.

The three interviewing committees Hayek proposes are:

• One consisting of the chairs of eight of the city's 16 citizen commissions and another with the chairs of the other eight commissions. The chairs were selected by the council, represent a “diverse cross-section of the community” and understand how city government works, Hayek wrote.

• The third group would be made up of former Iowa City mayors Ernie Lehman, Naomi Novick, Bill Ambrisco, Darrel Courtney and John Balmer.

That group has experience working closely with city managers, and three of them were involved in a city manager search, Hayek wrote.

Hayek stressed that the ultimate decision on choosing the next city manager is the council's alone.

“However, I think utilizing our commission chairs and former mayors would lend valuable insight to the council as we deliberate,” he wrote.