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City manager talks ongoing

By DAWN HANKINS - dhankins@t-g.com
Posted 7/26/22

Shelbyville City Council has had a busy summer. It’s likely the last half of the year may prove to be just as involved, with the City still in the process of hiring a new administrative …

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City manager talks ongoing

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Shelbyville City Council has had a busy summer. It’s likely the last half of the year may prove to be just as involved, with the City still in the process of hiring a new administrative manager.
Department heads from the parks department to the police department are also busy filling several job openings. City treasurer Kay Parker has graciously served as interim City manager for a few months now. Several special meetings have been held this summer to discuss resumes received for the open City manager position.
During a special called meeting last month, MTAS consultant Chuck Downham gave an introduction of 6 applicants who met all education requirements (a bachelor’s degree) and work history, which is 8 years prior experience as outlined in the City’s job application.
MTAS is Municipal Technical Advisory Service through the University of Tennessee which serves municipalities like Shelbyville. MTAS was called upon earlier this year to assist Council with the application selection process for its new City manager.
Council members Rick Overcast and Gary Haile wanted to make sure that the City’s two local applicants were given consideration for the City manager position.
While Downham said his role was not to tell Council how to proceed, only to facilitate, he cautioned Council when considering applicants outside of the threshold of minimum requirements established. “You will want to make sure they exhibit the proper qualities, experience and education to be considered, especially when dealing with a field of applicants that might have stronger qualifications.”
Councilperson Ewing said it was her understanding that Council was not going to go as strong on educational requirements during this hiring process. (The City terminated Josh Ray as City manager earlier this year, who had a lot of education credentials and city management experience.)
Councilman Feldhaus said he studied the top 6 applications, without looking at names, and he came to the same conclusion as MTAS, which was that the local applicants did not make the cut due to lack of experience managing a city.
After discussions about qualifications, and Council members selecting their favorite top three applicants, it came down to four, at that time, being selected for initial Zoom interviews: Gregory Scott Collins, Patrick Jordon, Patrick Marsh and Scott Avery.
As of today, Council is still working on hiring of a new City manager. There is a first round Zoom interview set for noon Wednesday with another candidate, Andy Butterfield, added to the top applicants.
Council has planned to have its second round of in-person interviews on Wednesday, Aug. 3, at noon, with candidate Collins.
The other candidates, Jordon, Marsh and Avery, are still considered to be in the running, but Council has not scheduled interviews with them as of today.
Planning commission meeting
While Shelbyville Planning Commission pretty much runs on its own, there is a regular session meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 28, at Shelbyville Recreation Center, Meeting Room B. Consideration will be given to the Shelbyville 2040 Comprehensive Plan, titled “Spark Shelbyville.”
While City Council generally takes recommendations from the Planning Commission, it has been pretty involved with the organization of “Spark Shelbyville.” See Saturday’s T-G- for story on this meeting.