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12/04/2019 11:00 PMFollowing a two-day interview process, the Clinton Town Council (TC) announced on Dec. 4 that it has not reached a decision yet on which candidate will be offered the position of Clinton’s first town manager. The council will continue to evaluate the three finalists for the position.
Heading in to the TC meeting on the morning of Dec. 4, there was speculation that the council would announce the offer of a contract to one of the three finalists for the position. However following an executive session that lasted more than 90 minutes, TC Chair Chris Aniskovich announced that no decisions had been made.
Aniskovich said that there is no timetable yet for when the TC will make a choice, though he said a special meeting will be scheduled on Wednesday, Dec. 11 so the council members can discuss the issue again. Aniskovich said that none of the three finalists—James Chandler, Kyle Coleman, and Karl Kilduff—have been eliminated from consideration.
“We’re going to work with the search firm to identify the right candidate. It’s a town decision, we don’t want to rush into something just to do it,” Aniskovich said.
Doug Thomas, the representative from the search firm Strategic Government Resources (SGR) who has been assisting the town with the search, said the delay is normal in the context of a town hiring its first ever town manager.
“We try to recognize this is a critical and a new position,” Thomas said.
Thomas has been asked by the TC to gather some more information on the candidates and do some follow up work, which he said is also fairly typical.
“There will be a hire out of this process,” Thomas said.
The Process
Process is the correct word as the town undertook an in-depth operation to get to this point. In 2018, Clinton voters overwhelmingly approved updates to the town’s charter that switched the form of government from a board of selectmen style to a town manager style. The new charter went into effect on Nov. 19, which coincided with the seating of the Town Council that will ultimately hire the town manager.
On Dec. 2 and 3, the three finalists for the town manager position were each given tours of the town and a chance to meet the Town Hall staff and town employees, and sat through several interview sessions. The candidates also had a public meet and greet at the Town Hall on Dec. 3 that was attended by more than 50 members of the public.
By all accounts, the two days of meetings coordinated by SGR and the town manager search committee was a success.
“It was an outstanding process they put in place. The work they did made our life easier,” Aniskovich said of the town’s partnership with SGR.
SGR was hired in spring 2019 to assist with the search at a cost of $32,000. The firm was one of eight to apply for the contract and quickly impressed town officials with its services.
Thomas was equally impressed with the job conducted by the town’s search committee.
“Kudos go to Phil [Sengle] as the chairman of the search committee,” Thomas said. “There was so much work that had to be done.”
Thomas praised Sengle for being the touch point between the town and SGR and for coordinating all the logistics of the search. The town received more than 40 applicants for the position.
Thomas said that the search in Clinton was different than other town manager searches in which he has participated because 2019 was also an election year. That meant that the actual body charged with hiring the town manager wasn’t known until well after the job had been officially posted online.
“We compensated by having the council-elect meet with the search committee to evaluate the 12 semifinalists. I think that was appreciated,” Thomas said.
As the TC continues the task of hiring a town manager, the town will be led by an interim manager. Last month the council appointed Pete Neff as interim manager for a term of up to 180 days.
Neff is in charge of running most of the day-to-day duties of the town that were previously handled by the first selectman and for making reports to the TC at its biweekly meetings. Neff is also in the process of reviewing the policies and procedures of the town that may need tweaking under a town manager form of government.