A search is under way
to replace former Loudon City and
Loudon Utilities Board manager Lynn
Mills, who died March 19.
Loudon Mayor Jim
Greenway, City Councilman Jeff
Harris and LUB Chairman John Hutton
represent a three-person search
committee seeking to fill the slot.
The position, which
is currently listed on the LUB
website, states, “This position is
responsible for the management and
administration for the departments
of Utilities, including Electric,
Gas, Water, and Waste Water and
Police, Fire, Parks and Recreation,
and Public Works.”
However, that
could soon change. Loudon City
Council on Monday night
discussed the possibility of
separating the management
positions.
Councilman Lynn
Millsaps was the first to bring
the idea to the table,
addressing the rest of council
just before stepping into
executive session.
“Has anybody
looked at what it would cost for
the city to hire a full-time
manager?” Millsaps said. “I
would like to know how much it
would cost for the city to have
a full-time manager and for
utilities to have a full-time
manager.”
During executive
session, council decided to add
an agenda item Monday to
possibly split the position.
“I’ve been saying
for two years we need to take a
hard look at — when this
position came open … I felt like
we needed to take a hard look at
splitting this decision,” Harris
said.
After further
discussion, Millsaps remained in
favor of separating the two
positions.
He based his
decision on information gathered
by John Canada, who was
contracted by the city to
provide a review from a human
resources standpoint, which
includes evaluating personnel,
staffing and job practices.
“A big
problem has been in the
past, according to his
report and I’m sitting here
right now reading it again
and going over it, was a
lack of communication,”
Millsaps said. “The city
manager had done everything
that needed to be done. … I
just feel like this is an
opportunity to do that, and
the city manager salary, a
portion of it, of the total
salary, a portion of it is
paid by the city and a
larger portion is paid by
the utilities. I just think
nobody has the time to do
both and it’s hard to find
somebody educated and
trained to do both. … I’m
sure it would be hard to
find somebody who has
experience to do both of
those. Even if you did it
would be hard to find the
time to get both done.”
The topic of
hiring a joint manager was
brought up during the LUB
meeting prior to city
council’s meeting Monday
night.
Hutton said a
timeline for making a hire
could entail interviewing
candidates in May and
possibly have a decision by
the regular meeting in May
or at the start of June.
Canada, who will also aid in
the search, called the
timeline aggressive.
“The timeline
is — I think we’re not hung
up on a timeline,” Hutton
said after the meeting. “We
do want a smooth process to
where we have some good
candidates to meet with and
a lot of that is based on
where they are and how they
can get here. I also
mentioned our interim
manager (Michael Lambert),
there’s some interest from
him. So we want to go
through a process where we
give everybody a good shot.
We’re not hung up on a
certain date, but we did
throw out a timeline to get
in there by the first of
June or something like
that.”
A meeting
will be held Thursday with
one potential manager, but
it is now unclear if that
candidate would fill both
positions until a vote is
made Monday by city council.
“I would just
say that response has been
good,” Canada said of the
search during the LUB
meeting. “I think a few
solid candidates have
started to surface.
Obviously, there’s been some
that wouldn’t meet the
criteria and I’m beginning
to respond to some of those
as well with the typical
‘thanks, but no thanks.’ I
do have the first candidate
to be seen here Thursday,
this Thursday. I do have
another one that I think is
favorable that I’ll be
meeting with tomorrow is the
plan, who happened to be
traveling. He’s a candidate
who applied over the weekend
and I’ll be reaching out to
him because I think he is a
solid one as well.”