Lesson: How to Hire a New City Manager

Picking a new Grove City Manager will be a complex, difficult, and challenging experience that could take up to six months, two state City Managers told the city council Wednesday evening.

Ed Tinker, Glenpool City Manager, and Mike Nunnely, Mannford Town Manager, spoke for two hours on the details. Absent from the meeting was Councilman Terry Ryan. When the presentation was over, the council had almost no questions and voted to go into Executive Session to ponder the issue.

"We will tell it like it is," Tinker opened, "it is very tough out there. There are 11 City Manager openings right now in Oklahoma. Maybe more later tonight. In the last 12 months there have been 37 turnovers in city managers," he added.

"Do you want a Puppet, a Coat and Tie Man, a self-motivator, or a Streetwalker (someone who leaves the office to talk to the people on the street)?"

"You are going to have to pony up a large salary to attract the right person, a salary equal to the top hospital administrator or the school superintendent. Recruitment has to be absolutely confidential; look closely at the applicants; you need to find someone who has expertise at managing utilities and can make money selling natural gas; nobody knows everything, anyone who says he does and won't ask for help is not worth hiring."

"This is Hunting Season for City Managers," Nunnely said, referring to the fact that the April elections were just held with new councilmen ready to hire and fire city managers. "Everyone in Oklahoma knows the history of Grove the last four years with regard to the city manager and you are going to have to sell the city to the applicant."

"Don’t think about Grove's population of 6,000; think instead of 20,000, because that is what it will be in the future. It is just Zeros."

"Don't worry about baggage; the average tenure of a city manager in Oklahoma is four years, they have all been fired at one time or another due to politics," they told the council.

"If you can't find a good city manager currently employed somewhere, or a good assistant city manager in a mid-size or large city, go to the banking or education industries. Do not hire a legislator, as they have no idea where the money comes from, just how to spend it," Tinker told the board.

"You must fit the applicant to the city; there is something called isolationism, when a person moves to a small city from a large one and discovers it is 20 miles to the Mall or grocery store," he added. "They won't stay and you'll be faced with hiring all over again.
And if the person does not work out, fire him, don't wait six months, just fire him."

Candidates for the position must above all have Character, know finances, be able to read a financial statement, have people management skills, and interpersonal relationships. Tinker cited the former assistant city manager of Bartlesville, who took the chief job in Alva, and mailed birthday cards to every city employee.

City Managers need to spend as much time outside their office as they do inside, especially going to Oklahoma City to the state legislature. "Is the legislation good for Grove or Grand Lake? Be on top of it," Tinker said.

For the interview: "Have your contract ready, your salary offer, fringe benefits and retirement package, and don't go cheap," they advised. "Have a check ready for mileage reimbursement and offer to put them up overnight at a motel and buy dinner. Don't hire from Kansas or Texas as their revenue systems are completely different."

Oklahoma is one of only two states in the country that relies only on sales taxes and utilities for Municipal income.

Tinker and Nunnely have been presenting their free advice for nearly two years.