CCB MEDIA PHOTO
The Barnstable Town Manager Search Committee listens to a presentation from Joellen Earl, a former assistant town manager in Barnstable who now runs a search firm. Committee members pictured from left counter clockwise around the table, are town councilors James Crocker, Ann Canedy, Eric Steinhilber, Sara Cushing, Paul Hebert and at large member Phyllis Miller.
HYANNIS – The Barnstable Town Manager Search Committee will ask the Barnstable Town Council for a larger amount than first discussed as it looks to hire an outside search firm.
Originally, the committee voted to ask for $22,500, but last night, it voted to ask for $34,999, just under the $35,000 threshold, in order to avoid a longer and more detailed “request for proposals” process.
Town Councilor Eric Steinhilber, chairman of the search committee, said after the meeting, “As directed by the town council, we’re vetting some consultants that may help us in our outside search, which will include internal candidates of course, so we’ll continue through that process and we look forward to seeing some proposals next week.”
The search committee has had informational interviews with both the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management of UMass Boston, a search firm that works as an intergovernmental agency; and GovHR USA, a search firm based in Illinois that is run by Joellen C. Earl.
Earl held the position of Assistant Town Manager in Barnstable for three and a half years, ending in 2003, she said. Prior to that, she worked for seven and a half years in Yarmouth. Her firm recently completed the second search for a Provincetown town manager.
Earl attended the search committee meeting last night and said her costs would include travel to Barnstable about four times for the search process, but that she had a place to stay and use of a car while on the Cape, so her expense fees would be reasonable. She also suggested the committee give transportation money to candidates who come to town to interview for the position, with, perhaps a limit of $500 per candidate.
Earl said the search process would take about three months.
Both Richard Kobayashi from Collins and Earl said they could submit proposals within a couple days of a request.
The search committee instructed the town’s chief procurement officer, Johanna Boucher, to request quotes from the two firms this week in order to get the proposals in time to review at next week’s search committee meeting.
Boucher said she had already approached two other firms, MMA Consulting Group Inc. and Municipal Resources Inc., about coming in for informational interviews and they said they were not interested in conducting the search for Barnstable.
Because the quote process requires going to three firms to ask for a quote, Boucher said those two “no quote” responses count towards the necessary three quotes. Therefore, given the request to Joellen Earl for a quote, the town will have met the municipal rule for three requests for quotes, she said.
The requested appropriation for $34,999 will go on the Barnstable Town Council’s agenda at its next meeting on October 15 for a first reading. The appropriation will be up for a vote at the council’s November 5 meeting.
Steinhilber said he plans to give a report to the town council about the search committee’s progress during the committee reports section of the town council agenda on October 15.
He did not give a report at the last town council meeting. That was despite the search committee having held two meetings and taken extensive public comment from two town councilors, Jennifer Cullum and Frederick Chirigotis, who spoke during the public comment section of the September 29 meeting and said the committee should be disbanded.
After last night’s meeting, Steinhilber said he did not give a report at the last town council meeting because there was nothing significant to report.
“We’ll do regular updates through the committee updates as needed. . . . We’ll be keeping the council informed along the way,” he said.
During the response to public comment section of the September 29 search committee meeting, Sara Cushing, vice president of the search committee, said she believed the search committee should be disbanded and that she had discussed that with the town council president, Jessica Rapp-Grassetti.
The CapeCod.com article about that meeting was cited in an Open Meeting Law complaint by Barnstable resident Ronald Beaty. The complaint stated that the discussion about whether the committee should be disbanded was a violation of the Open Meeting Law because it was not on the agenda.
At last night’s search committee meeting, members discussed Beaty’s Open Meeting Law complaint with the town’s attorney Ruth Weil.
Members said they had not anticipated the discussion about disbanding the committee, because it was a response to public comment.
Cushing said she had brought up disbanding the committee during lunch with Rapp-Grassetti the Friday before the meeting but had not shared that conversation with any other member of the committee.
Town Councilor James Crocker suggested the search committee chairman send a letter to Beaty apologizing for the misunderstanding but to explain that the discussion was not anticipated by the chairman.
But Steinhilber said he did not want to apologize when he did not feel he had done anything wrong.
Crocker said the apology would be a gesture that could go a long way toward resolving the matter.
Steinhilber asked for a vote on the letter to Beaty and it passed 4 to 2 with Canedy and Cushing voting against sending the letter to Beaty.
Committee members also voted to have Weil to draft a letter to the Attorney General explaining why they did not feel there was an Open Meeting Law violation.
During public comment at last night’s meeting, Chirigotis said the committee was originally set up just to research whether to hire a search firm, and there should be a separate committee or perhaps the entire council involved in the search itself.
After the meeting, Steinhilber said he did not have any opinion on whether the committee should be disbanded or whether the current search committee should continue with the process.
“I just have a strong feeling to keep an open and transparent process, to keep the process moving forward and obviously bring our recommendations to the town council for further direction as we take the next steps,” he said.
By LAURA M. RECKFORD, CapeCod.com News Editor
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