It’s not beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but it is beginning to look a lot like the Greensboro City Council is about to pick a new city manager.

Earlier in the year, City Council members said the decision would likely be made in late summer; and, on Friday, August 30, the Greensboro City Council called a special meeting for Friday, Sept. 6 at 2 p.m. in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber of the Melvin Municipal Office Building at 300 W. Washington St. to discuss who should get the job.

  The city manager position has been vacant since March of this year and Interim City Manager Chris Wilson has filled in during the search process.

The Greensboro City Council has been holding a series of interviews as part of a national search and, according to the announcement for the closed meeting next week, the council plans to meet in open session as required by law and then go immediately into closed session to address the matter of who should be the next city manager of the third most populous city in North Carolina.

“This is a specially called meeting as the Council will meet in closed session to consider qualifications, competence, character, fitness and conditions of employment of prospective applicants for the vacant City Manager position,” the legally required public notice for the meeting states.

About two weeks ago, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan stated publicly that the City Council had narrowed the number of candidates to four and would be conducting in-person interviews in the upcoming weeks.

Former City Manager Taiwo Jaiyeoba resigned as the previous city manager earlier this year – an action that left a lot of lingering questions after a controversial exit that involved a major family dispute and allegations that the response was badly mishandled by city officials and police.

Jaiyeoba was later hired as the national transit planning director for Lochner, a Chicago-based company that provides a wide range of transportation and transportation infrastructure services.

Now, one of the main qualities the current council is looking for, no doubt, is someone who will bring no new drama to the city’s government.

One thing worth noting is that, over the last several decades, it’s been very common for Greensboro, Guilford County and surrounding local governments to conduct a lengthy national search to fill a position only to decide in the end that the best candidate was the person who had been acting as the interim director or interim department head while the search took place.

The deadline to apply for the Greensboro city manager’s job was Sunday, May 26. Just before that deadline, Vaughan told the Rhino Times that it was her understanding the city had received about 80 applications.

A preliminary review of those applications was conducted by city staff earlier this year and now the City Council has whittled the list down and is interviewing the finalists in person.

 According to a timeline established by the city, semi-finalist and finalist interviews were to begin in mid-June and take place throughout June and July.

 All that suggests that the council is now nearing a decision.

Earlier in the process, Vaughan said Greensboro needs “someone who has a demonstrated track record of handling economic development” since the city is in the midst of an economic boom with projects like the supersonic jet factory and the Toyota battery plant starting up in the area.

The mayor, who recently announced she’s not running again for that job next year, said that, because of the massive economic development taking place in and around Greensboro, it’s extremely important to have a city manager who knows how to successfully handle large projects, and also, she said, knows how to manage small business development – a category where she said the city is also seeing a lot of growth.

Whoever is picked to be the next Greensboro city manager is set to get an annual salary of between $190,993 and $341,777.

Greensboro government has over 3,500 employees, and six of those employees report directly to the manager. Those are the deputy city manager, three assistant city managers, one chief of staff and the city clerk.

According to guidelines listed in the city’s want-ad, the new manager should be “an inclusive leader who appreciates diversity and supports the City’s work to overcome racial divisions.”

In addition, the ideal candidate should “value diversity of experiences and thought in decision making and strategic planning activities.”

City Council members certainly want to choose wisely and not rush the decision.  Vaughan told the Rhino Times that the council fortunately has that option since Interim Greensboro City Manager Chris Wilson has been doing an excellent job and that he had agreed to stay in that position as long as he was needed.

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