During a regular meeting Tuesday night, the Alva City Council selected members of the Executive Search Committee. The committee’s main task will be to look at qualifications, interview and narrow down the number of candidates for the city business manager position. The city council will make the final decision.
Earlier the mayor announced the committee would consist of two Alva citizens, three city council members and one city employee. By limiting council members to three, there can be no quorum during committee meetings which means those meetings are not official council meetings.
Mayor Kelly Parker provided a list of names of members of the public who said they would be willing to serve on the committee. He said several came from suggestions by council members and others. As he listed the names, he gave brief biographical information about them. Citizens willing to serve on the committee included Brandon Sherman, Dr. Kay Decker, Mary Hamilton, Paul Kinzie, Janice Melton and Dr. David Pecha.
Parker asked the eight council members to choose two people from the list and write their names on the index cards that had been provided, one name per card. The cards were collected, and the mayor tallied them. He announced that Decker and Pecha received the most votes and would be part of the committee.
Next the council members were tasked with choosing three of their members to serve. He invited any of them to state why they would like to be on the committee. Taylor Dowling, Sadie Bier, Daniel Winters and Connor Martin expressed interest. Using the same index card process, Parker compiled the votes. He announced that Bier, Winters and Martin each received five votes while Dowling had four. So Bier, Winters and Martin were added to the committee list.
The sixth member of the committee was to be a city employee. City Business Manager Angelica Brady made that selection. She announced that Assistant Water Superintendent Drake Lewis was her choice.
Councilmember Troy Brooks asked what would happen if one of those selected was among the applicants for the position. Parker checked with City Attorney Rick Cunningham and replied that the committee does not make the final decision. That’s up to the city council so it should not be a problem.
Council members voted approval of the six person committee in a 7-1 vote. Brooks voted against the selection.
Earlier in the meeting, it was announced that an Oklahoma Municipal League (OML) representative will be in Alva on Friday, March 4, to meet with council members, city officials and city employees about the qualifications they are seeking in a city business manager.
Once qualifications are determined, the OML will advertise the position and begin accepting applications. The OML will check qualifications and do background checks to narrow down applicants to those who are qualified. The Executive Search Committee will then become involved in selecting the top choices.
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