For $15,000, headhunting firm thins manager field to Holmes

After a month of discussion, an internal search and $15,000 to a headhunting firm, the Vancouver City Council got one applicant for its vacant city manager position — Assistant City Manager Eric Holmes, who had said he was interested in the job from the start.

City Manager Pat McDonnell announced in late August that he was taking a job at SEH America, and he would resign his job of 10 years as of Nov. 1.

The seven-member council decided to follow an aggressive timeline in searching for McDonnell’s replacement, and voted 5 to 2 to hire Portland consulting firm Waldron & Co. to help them outline qualifications for an internal candidate.

On Monday, consultants will review the next steps with the council, and then they will hold a closed executive session to discuss Holmes’ qualifications. They could approve his hiring by Oct. 25.

Most on the council seem to be satisfied with Holmes as McDonnell’s successor, but not everyone was thrilled with spending $15,000, to find a man who already has his offices in a city building — especially as the city cuts core services.

“It’s $15,000 that as far as I’m concerned has been wasted and could have been spent on something else,” said Councilor Larry Smith, who along with Councilor Bart Hansen had voted against hiring a headhunting firm for an internal search.

About five months ago, McDonnell set up a succession team that included Holmes, who, because of his prior experience and knowledge of the city, is a natural fit for Vancouver, Smith said. If the council hadn’t thought Holmes was qualified, or didn’t trust McDonnell’s judgement, then a headhunting firm may have been necessary, he said. But that wasn’t the case.

“I thought it was just stupid,” Smith said. “It was a whole farce to go through it, since there was a whole succession plan in place.”

‘Independent eyes’

However, Mayor Tim Leavitt, who voted along with Councilors Jeanne Stewart, Jeanne Harris, Pat Campbell and Jack Burkman to hire Waldron & Co., said the consultants provided “outside, independent eyes” and were key in helping guide the city council make a “prudent” decision in selecting the city’s top job.

“With the consultant’s support, we have established a clear and comprehensive set of criteria, with input from every member of the city council,” Leavitt wrote in an e-mail. “By enlisting the support of the consultant, I believe the process we have engaged in garners ownership from our council and credibility with the citizens of our community”

He said Holmes could be the right candidate, and the consultants’ work gave a profile and criteria to objectively evaluate his experience.

Holmes, 41, has been assistant city manager since April, but has prior city manager experience. He served as Battle Ground’s city manager from 2002 to 2006, before taking a job as Chief Operating Officer at local development consulting firm MacKay & Sposito.

He was hired in October 2007 as Vancouver’s Director of Economic Development and was a key figure in the city’s development agreement with investors to develop the Columbia River waterfront site.

Should they decide they want to hear from more candidates, the city council could decide Monday to open the search up regionally or nationally, although that could add up to $45,000 more to the headhunting process.

Starting internally

The council decided in September to start by choosing from current employees and employees who worked for the city in the past two years.

Vancouver Deputy Human Resources Director Antoinette Gasbarre said that it’s customary to hire a consulting firm for top city positions.

The HR department has 13 employees, of which one-and-a-half positions work on recruitment. One of those positions handles recruitment and promotion of police and firefighters, leaving a half-time staffer.

As to whether her department could have handled the search for Holmes in house, Gasbarre said, “that’s exactly why we took it to council, so they could make the decision.”

“There were a number of options on the (search) spectrum,” she said. “I think the council selected the end of spectrum that was on the more cost-effective side.”

On Sept. 21, the consultants outlined the qualities that council members shared in individual interviews last week — which included varied and even opposing desires such as “grounded” and “creative,” “mature” and “fresh ideas,” and “stay the course” and “finds new opportunities.”

Should he be selected, Holmes will be stepping into a difficult role — the city is cutting $9.1 million from its budget in both 2011 and 2012 and is tasked with solving a structural budget deficit that will require difficult labor negotiations.

Salary for a new city manager has yet to be discussed. McDonnell’s 2010 salary after 10 years on the job was $171,650; Holmes’ pay as assistant city manager is $122,868.

The city manager is the top administrator and is the only staff member the council has the power to hire and fire. Vancouver has a “weak” mayor and council form of government, meaning that the city council directs the city manager in policy direction, but the manager is responsible for actually executing that policy.

Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542 or andrea.damewood@columbian.com.