KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Kalamazoo city commissioners have gotten the ball rolling on their search for a new city manager to succeed Jim Ritsema, who retires this fall.
Commissioners agreed that they should do a national search for candidates, but they don’t all agree on who should do the search.
Commissioners Chris Preadel and Alonzo Wilson felt they should bring in a professional recruiting firm to find the best candidates.
“I feel very strongly that there should be a national search firm,” said Preadel. Wilson added “You know having a third party conduct that search would not only give everyone here the confidence, but also well as the community.”
Qianna Decker and Vice Mayor Jeanne Hess thought they might be able to do it in-house.
“We have an HR department that I believe could be fully capable of doing a search,” said Decker. Hess said the city’s human resources department “did a successful search for our city attorney.”
Last night they picked an informal work group to meet with their human resources director and come back with a set of proposals for discussion at their next commission meeting.
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