The city of International Falls will do its own work to find a new city administrator.
City Council agreed Monday to do the internal search rather than hire an outside recruiting firm.
Council was told it would cost close to $20-thousand to hire a firm that could take at least four to five months to have someone hired.
Councillor Harold Ditsch would have preferred starting with a look at their existing staff.
“Why would you waste the money before you even try internally. I can’t understand that. Like any other business, you would try your employees you have in the business to see if they work. If they don’t work, you go somewhere else,” says Ditsch.
Councillor Joe Krause says it’s important they get the selection right.
“I don’t disagree that we may have a candidate here currently working for that would fill the position. My fear is, that I don’t want this board to be accused of cronyism. I don’t want anyone to come back at us and say you just recruited somebody without looking at anybody,” says Krause.
Council will give it until the end of April to search out potential candidates.
Mayor Harley Droba is concerned that it may not achieve the desired results.
“If we have an internal recruitment process and it fails, we’re probably going to have to go to a full recruitment process,” says Droba.
Deputy City Administrator Betty Bergstrom added it will mean extra work for staff, and other jobs may have to be delayed to complete the search.
The city is looking for a new administrator to replace Ken Anderson who is retiring in April and worked his final day earlier this month.
