LAWTON — As they look for a new city manager, Lawton officials may hire a recruiting firm to help with the search.
The Lawton City Council voted March 14 to issue a request for proposals from companies with expertise in helping cities find their top executives. Requests for proposals typically announce a project, describe it and seek bids from qualified contractors interested in completing it.
Lawton has already listed the position on the city’s internal websites and will continue advertising the job. The council will discuss the search again in two to three weeks.
Former City Manager Michael Cleghorn resigned his post earlier this month, following an executive session with the council to discuss his employment. City Attorney John Ratliff is serving as the acting city manager until Cleghorn’s successor is named, and Deputy City Attorney Tim Wilson is now the acting city attorney.
City staff needs some direction on how to proceed with the search for Cleghorn’s successor, Ratliff said.
“As the acting city manager, I can approve up to $50,000 in terms of hiring an outside firm to assist us with this process,” he said. “Before I do that, I just wanted to get the council’s guidance on how all of you envision this process.”
Councilman Randy Warren, who is the longest-serving member of the council, said the council worked with a recruiting firm the last time the city was looking for a city manager. He said the firm identified some strong candidates, but he thought the city could have gotten the same results on its own.
“I don’t think we gained anything by hiring a firm to help us,” Warren said. “We could have done that ourselves.”
Human Resources Director Craig Akard said his past experience has shown that finding someone to fill a city job takes a lot of work, especially for the city manager’s position. He added that an outside firm could advertise the position, review applications and recommend 10 to 12 candidates for the council to consider.
The council could study the list of candidates, then ask the recruiting firm to conduct the first round of interviews and submit a list of finalists to the council. The council would then decide which candidates should move on to the next round.
If the council decides to have city staff perform those tasks, a staffer will have to review candidates’ applications, Akard said. That person would also determine which candidates meet the city’s requirements, then conduct the first set of interviews.
Akard said Lawton has relied on recruiting firms in the past to help find suitable candidates for the city manager’s job, as well as other top positions at City Hall. He added that those firms can cast a wider net than the city can do on its own.
“They can reach out a lot further than we can, a lot easier than we can, because they have the connections,” Akard said.
Akard said recruiting firms may have a pool of qualified candidates who had applied for the city manager’s job in other cities but did not make the final cut. However, he said, those candidates might be a good fit for Lawton.
Job listings
Councilman Kelly Harris wondered whether the city could advertise the job with the Oklahoma Municipal League, an Oklahoma City-based organization that represents cities and towns across the state.
Akard said, “We can post it on there, and that gets it out to as far as OML can go.”
Acting City Manager Ratliff said the city could post the job on OML’s website and advertise it on Indeed.com as well as other search engines. However, he said he was not sure whether those listings would reach a large pool of applicants.
“So, my recommendation would be to cast as broad of a net as possible,” he said.
Councilman George Gill said the city could begin the hunt on its own, then hire a recruiting firm if the initial search does not attract suitable candidates. He added that a recruiting firm could tailor the search to meet the city’s requirements.
“We can really customize this to our needs here,” Gill said.