Dear Villa Ricans,

I’ve been needing to put into writing to explain to you and others the direction I chose to take in relation to Villa Rica city management. Initially, the most important thing to put into place (when the council in a 3 to 2 vote with my advocacy and blessing dismissed the former city manager), was someone who loved and cared about VR, had massive institutional knowledge of the city and could help stabilize us while we turned this ship in a different direction from the last several years. That person was former director of VR Parks & Rec, Deputy City Manager and also the former Mayor Mr. Jeff Reese. We knew from the start that this would be temporary and existed for just shy of six months. About the same time our new Deputy City Manager Diana DeSanto came on staff. Because of State legislation, sponsored by Rep Jay Collins and our local state delegation this past session, our city charter (constitution) was changed. This change gave authority to the city mayor to hire and fire the city manager.  As a result prior to my hiring of Jeff as interim CM, I was already networking with some advisers I put together to assist me in the process of finding a city manager. Although I had the power to hire this person on my own, I was not arrogant or stupid enough to think I had the expertise to do that. Even when we did it as a council in years past, we didn’t either. A post would be made by HR and we would receive applications. We would review the applications interview candidates and pick who we thought was the best out of the bunch. But what if instead of that, we actually actively recruited the type of manager we needed. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy because what manager would want to come to VR given the fiery political atmosphere that had existed the prior 8 months. My hope was that we could calm things down as a governing body and city, prove that were stabilizing ourselves and moving forward with econ-development and other positive moves.  I originally hoped this period could last at least until January 2025 or longer with an interim CM (city mgr) to give us the best chance to be able to attract some seasoned city manager candidate.

I made contact with a former mayor outside our area who helped spearhead one of GA’s new incorporated cities, had been the president of the Georgia Municipal Assoc and several statewide mayor associations. He knows mayors and city managers all over the state. He put me in touch with a few city manager hiring consultants. I also reached out to another seasoned city manager in a nearby city who also has a vested interest in VR along with a representative at  GMA (Georgia Municipal Asso). All of these willingly spent a good amount of time with me back and forth on the phone and email sharing advice and expertise. The consultant was also especially helpful. He went through the entire process of what they do when working with a city to help recruit the right candidate for the position. They meet with those of us in the city government to see what we are looking for and also with potential candidates. Their search process is also much more exhaustive and targeted than your standard city HR hiring post and too much to explain here.  My hope was that the council would be agreeable to spending the money to use an expert consultant, but I change courses, and I’ll tell you why. The consultant could have just taken our money had we chosen that direction BUT he didn’t. He was blatantly honest with me in the advice he shared. He told me it was going to be very difficult for VR to attract a good well-seasoned CM. I told him I realized that, because of the political hotbed we had been in the previous months. He said that’s not all of it. Your city has turned over city managers for many years.  “Put yourself in the place of the quality CM you want to come here who may be leaving another job, moving and altering their life to come to a city that the longest CM you have had in many years is the recent one that just departed (7 yrs).”  He asked if our current interim Jeff could stay for a year or more and I told him that we did not have that option. I told him about our new DCM (deputy city manager), and a number of her attributes and how well liked and respected she was by city staff and members of the governing body for a host of reasons although she has not been a city manager before. His recommendation was that I place her in the interim position when Jeff left and match her up with an experienced city manager as a mentor and that may be the best long turn fix for us.  I wasn’t sure if I could make the mentor happen and justify the experience that may come with it for that person. I also explained to him that Jeff may be working with us as a consultant for a while. I ran all of this information by the other advisers I was using to get feedback. Bottom line for me is to propose to the council that Jeff stay on as a consultant and mentor while helping see through some city projects over the next 6+ months. Yes, I realize he is now the CM in Bowdon (which is light work compared to VR) and all parties are agreeable. I also have put together a short list which includes the former mayor and GMA president along with several city or former CM’s who are willing be available via phone for whatever reason if our management wants to run something by them.  I can’t tell you how friendly and helpful these advisors have been to me using their time and sharing their expertise at no cost to anyone.

Our new interim City Manager is former Deputy City Manager Diana DeSanto. She is headed to what GMA is calling New City Manager Bootcamp training this coming week. I believe we are headed in the right direction.