After its first candidate backed out, the Galesburg City Council could be voting to approve Galesburg’s new city manager Monday night.
That’s the hope of Mayor Peter Schwartzman, who says an offer has been made to an unidentified second candidate.
Schwartzman tells WGIL, “We’ve made an offer, and they’ve agreed to the offer. If the legal documents are ready, we’ll vote on Monday.”
The city council agenda for Monday does not include an agenda item concerning the hiring of a new city manager. City Clerk Kelly Bennewitz said the item could also be added to Monday’s agenda later this week.
The city received 32 applications for the city manager position left vacant when Todd Thompson departed for a similar job in Rock Island. Schwartzman said the field was narrowed to seven candidates, and eventually four finalists visited Galesburg for in-person interviews. The mayor confirmed there were two internal candidates for the city manager position and they made the final seven, but he declined to release their names.
A resolution to approve a new city manager was listed on the Sept. 6 council agenda, however the candidate withdrew their acceptance prior to the meeting.
Schwartzman said, “An offer was made, and ultimately the person decided not to come. I believe they got a better offer where they were currently employed. We thought we had made a very competitive offer. I don’t think it was a matter that the offer wasn’t strong enough. They just decided it was better to stay where they were.”
Schwartzman does not expect unanimous council approval of the new city manager.
“It appears some members may not be voting yea for this person, and that was true of the last candidate we made an offer to,” Schwartzman said. “The vote then was 5-2. We don’t know what the vote will be this time, but we do believe we have a majority.”
Schwartzman said they have been transparent to all of the candidates, and attempt to inform them of the anticipated final vote of the council.
“The first candidate knew they were not going to be unanimous, or at least it wasn’t anticipated – you never know until the final vote,” Schwartzman said. “Did that play in them not coming? Possibly. It’s really hard to know, but I don’t think so.
“From where I stand, obviously I would prefer to have some unanimity, or at least an overwhelming majority of supporters. But I’ll tell you, with this council, it’s tricky. If anyone has followed our votes from the last year or two, when it’s a contested matter, it does split 4-3 or 5-2.”
The mayor said he expects the new city manager to start in Galesburg somewhere between 30 and 45 after they received council approval.
Director of Public Works Wayne Carl has been filling in as interim city manager.
“I think Wayne Carl has done a marvelous job as interim city manager,” Schwartzman said. “But it’s been a lot of extra work for him. There’s been some very big matters we’ve had to contemplate and make decisions on.
“It’s time to bring closure to this search. It’s been going on for quite a while.”