The Junction City Commission will be waiting until after the budget process to begin it’s search for the next City Manager.

Gerald Smith, Former City Manager, tendered his resignation on April 22nd and it was approved by the Commission on April 29th.

Mayor Mike Ryan explained that the reasoning behind waiting until after the budget process is complete is so that City Staff can focus on the budget process.

“If we bring in a new City Manager at this time the acting City Manager and City Clerk will have to work on the budget, as well as, try and get a new employee up to speed on whats going on in the City. I really believe that would be counter productive,” Ryan said.

The City will use the same company they used during the search for Smith, the Austin Peters Group.

“If we go back with Austin Peters, being as they have done the background work, and there is a lot that will not need to be reprocessed, being as we’ve been through the process we wouldn’t need as many face to face meetings with the group as we did the first time through. So it would be at a reduced price from when we did it before.”

Currently Cheryl Beatty, Assistant City Manager and Finance Director is the acting interim City Manager. She is taking on double duty as she will be working to coordinate the budget process as well as manage the city.

“As the Financial Officer she has a full plate, she doesn’t have extra time. When we put it on her back that she has to coordinate the activities of all of the other departments and keep things running, it puts a lot of burden on her. Cheryl’s going to be working a lot of long hours, a lot of long weekends.”

This will not be the first time Beatty has been put into this situation. She was the acting interim City Manager this time last year following the departure of former City Manager Gerry Vernon and prior to the hiring of Gerald Smith.

Ryan said that he is beginning to go back through his notes from the search process last year and determine what he wants to see in the next City Manager.

“I will go through them more when August draws near. Some of the things that we asked for last time, I think possibly narrowed the pool to much on who could apply.”

One example he gave was the requirement for the candidate to be International City Manager Association Certified.

“Not very many people obtain that mark and we probably don’t need anybody trained quite to that level for a city of 25,000,” Ryan explained.

By loosening up the parameters Ryan feels that the Austin Peters Group will be able to obtain viable candidates and he does not have a problem using that company again.

The normal search process for a City Manager is expected to take between four to five months. With the amount of work that was done last year it is believed that it won’t take quite as long this time around.