City manager interviews set this week

By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Sunday, May 11, 2008 2:26 AM PDT

ONTARIO - The city of Ontario is racing down the homestretch in its search for a new city manager, with a community “meet-and-greet” session and interviews scheduled for early this week.

The City Council has pared down its applicants list to the top five candidates, and an open house to meet the finalists is scheduled to take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Four Rivers Cultural Center.

“It’s another opportunity to have the council and public take an opportunity to meet candidates in an informal way,” Lynn Stokesbary, Prothman Company, the Bellevue, Wash.-based consulting firm the city hired for the process, said.

“The more opportunity the candidates can interact, the better opportunity the council has to make a selection because, ultimately, it is about fit and how the candidate fits in the community and how they interact informally, so it’s just another dimension to do that.”

A day-long interview process begins Tuesday, Stokesbary said. The five finalists will meet individually with three different groups — the City Council, a community stakeholder panel and a department head panel — for their interviews. Also on Tuesday, candidates will take a tour of the city. After that, it is up to the City Council to review the applicants and either make a decision or pare that five down further for another round of interviews.

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 “The final candidates selected are a product of our firm and the City Council working together to determine the best fit based on qualifications and criteria set in our process,” Stokesbary said.

The top five candidates have vast experience and come from throughout the country. They are vying for a position held by former Ontario City Manager Scott Trainor.

Ric Ingham is the current city administrator of Veneta, Ore., in the Eugene-Springfield area, which has a population of 4,640. He has worked there since 2004. Michael Stampfler is a local government consultant who was also the city manager for 20 years in Portage, Mich., a city of 45,000. Eric Swansen is the current village manager of Yellowspring, Ohio, a small town of 3,750, where he has worked since January of 2006. Henry Lawrence worked as city manager of Edgewood, Wash., a city of 9,600 between Tacoma and Seattle, from 1998, shortly after the city was incorporated, to January of 2008. The last candidate, Roger Pinklenberg, is the acting deputy city manager of Commerce City, Colo., which has approximately 40,000 people. Since his employment began in Commerce City in June of 2001, he has worked as finance director, acting city manager and has performed his duties as acting deputy city manager since October 2007.

Ontario Mayor Joe Dominick said, when the search for the city manager began, the city started with 24 applicants who expressed interest in the job. That was pared down to 12 by the City Council for Prothman Company to follow up with. During that time, the 12 became nine as three applicants withdrew their interest, and Prothman Company returned to Ontario to discuss with city leaders those nine before the last five were singled out. Three of the remaining four were selected as alternates.

 Dominick said, the qualifications the City Council was looking for were applicants with leadership experience as a city manager; five to seven years as a senior administrator in the public sector; a master’s degree in public administration, business management or an International City/County Management Association (ICMA) certification; a strong leader with community pride who will work toward the interests of the city; and lots of budget and union contract experience. Dominick said, however, some of those qualifications were preferred, but not required.

The salary range agreed upon for the city manager’s position ranges from $80,000 to a cap of $110,000 per year, with benefits.