Politics & Government

Dixon City Council Authorizes City Manager Hiring Committee

Last night during a meeting of the Dixon City Council, the council OK'ed a 13-member committee that will get to interview Dixon city manager candidates in an open forum

Dixonites will have a say so in who becomes the next city manager. The council gave direction to its staff last night to form a 13-member committee that will interview city manager candidates in an open forum, inside the chambers of the

The council dictated that its members will each choose one committee member, and the subsequent members will be chosen by drawing at the council’s Dec. 13 meeting.

The purpose of the committee is for the public to get to ask the city manager candidates questions and give its recommendation to the council for the strongest applicants. It also serves as an opportunity for the candidates to get in touch with some of the people for whom they will be working for if hired.

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“I think it’s better to have an inclusive participation rather than have an exclusive committee,” said Councilman Michael Ceremello, commenting on the process that the council took during a 1997 search for a city manager.

Doing the interviewing in the open, Ceremello said, would allow not only the committee to ask questions of the candidates, but also give the opportunity for the general public to do so as well. Interviewing in the open would also be a strong statement that the city is attempting to be as transparent as possible and fair the applicants and the people of Dixon Ceremello said.

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The council stopped short however, on conducting the council-led interviews out in the open, citing personnel issues. After the open forum, the council will then take on the interviews in closed-session meetings.

So far, 60 candidates have applied for the position in Dixon, Human Resource Director Steve Johnson told the council.

“The quality of the applicants is very good,” Johnson said.

From those candidates, about 15 will emerge as the strongest and be the ones interviewed for the position, Johnson said.


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