City Manager Search

Begins This Friday

ONEONTA –  The search for Oneonta’s new City Manager will formally begin on Friday, Jan. 6.

“Our consultant, Catherine Tuck Parrish, will begin looking at applications,” said Mayor Gary Herzig during  the Common Council meeting held earlier this evening.  “She’ll weed out and present us with the candidates that she believes will be the best fit.”

Parrish, a consultant with the Novak Consulting Firm in Cincinnati, Ohio, was hired to conduct the search after a vote by Common Council last fall.  With input from the Council Search Committee, Parrish wrote the the job listing on their website.

And on Feb. 6-7, the top candidates will be invited to Oneonta for a formal interview with the search committee, which includes Council Members Melissa Nicosia, Second Ward, Russ Southard, Sixth Ward, David Rissberger, Third Ward, and John Rafter, Seventh Ward, as well as Alan Donovan, retired SUNY Oneonta president, and Alan Cleinman, president, Cleinman Performance Partners, and Police Chief Dennis Nayor.

Rissberger suggested that there be a time for public input on the candidate as well. “People have expressed interested in having some sort of coffee mixer with the final candidates,” he said.  “Then they could talk to their Council Members if they have strong feelings about one candidate or the other.”

But Herzig was reluctant.  “I’m not sure I would support that,” he said. “But ultimately, it’s the council’s decision.”

“The ‘community’ that shows up could be 10 people,” said Rafter.  “We don’t want 10 people having an inordinate amount of influence over this decision.”

“We were elected to bring that expertise to the project,” said Nicosia.  “We can’t speak for everyone, but as a body, we should be able to speak to a consensus.”