Council approves contract for city manager executive search

On Tuesday night, the City Council approved a $24,500 contract with Colin Baenziger & Associates to perform an executive search for the new Auburn city manager.

The former city manager, Charlie Duggan, officially retired on March 1 of this year. Duggan served as Auburn city manager from 2006-2017, and said that it was time for him to “start a new adventure.” Duggan was offered a position with the Marin Municipal Water District in Marin County, California, where he is now serving.

Jim Buston was appointed by the City Council to be the interim city manager, following Duggan's formal retirement in March.

Buston said it may be the fall before a new city manager is selected.

"We expect that someone new will be coming on … around August, November or December, but it all depends on how the search goes," he said. He expects that once the firm and council begin working directly together, they will release a schedule.

David Dorton, city public affairs director, said it could take anywhere between a few months to a year to find a new city manager.

Colin Baeziger & Associates is a fairly large firm that is well-known and well-respected in the southeast, city officials said. They have successfully placed candidates in many southern states, and conducted searches for executives in Florida, Georgia and Arkansas.

The firm will advertise for about a month, and in that time they will create brochures and use their own professional network, in addition to the International City and County Management Association.

Hundreds of applicants from across the country are expected to apply, from which the firm will narrow it down to seven to 10 applicants. Those applicants will then be contacted for interviews, which will most likely occur through Skype or similar technology.

Buston says that the applicants should then be narrowed down to around three.

“In my scenario,” Buston says, “You would invite those three on site, so you would have one-on-one meetings with those three and staff. And then a public meeting where the three would take questions from the public. After that, the council will deliberate and see which is best for Auburn.”

Once the new city manager is hired, there will then be a transition period for the new city manager to get acquainted with the staff.

At the time being, during the next few months, Buston says they are not looking at any new initiatives.

“I don’t expect that we are looking … [to do] anything different from what has already been set in place,” he says. “We were left with a really good environment; the budget had already been set, so our goal is to work with the plan that is already in place.”

Dorton said Buston is being a helpful and integral part of this transition.

“Jim is prepared to stay for as long as it takes.," Dorton said.

Buston has been with the city for 21 years and has spent 11 of those years as the assistant city manager. But he has no plans to take on the full-time, permanent city manager position.

“I am not interested in the position for the time, so I am not going to be seeking it,” Buston told The Plainsman in January.