City Manager Search Firms

The city of Oshkosh received proposals from three executive search firms wanting to help us hire the new city manager. A committee that includes councilor Jessica King will soon recommend one of the firms to the common council. The three firms are:

1. The Par Group, LLC (Lake Bluff, IL).
On the Web: http://www.pargroupltd.com/
Contact: Heidi Voorhees, President (hvoorhees@pargroupltd.com)

Proposal Highlights: The proposal claims that Par has "conducted 43 recruitments for City Manager/Administrator in the past three years. We currently have 13 such positions under recruitment." They claim that the recruitment process, "from the beginning to the date of appointment of a Candidate--should take no more than 90 days." The proposal includes a satisfaction policy that says: "Should the appointed City Manager, at the request of City Officials or the Manager's own determination, leave the City within the first 12 months of appointment, we will, if desired, conduct another search for the cost of expenses and announcements only. In addition, in accordance with the policy of our firm, as well as established ethics in the executive search industry, we will not actively recruit the placed employee for a period of five years."

2. Public Administration Associates, LLC (Oshkosh, WI)
On the Web: http://www.public-administration.com/
Contact: William D. Freuh, Partner (paassoc@northnet.net)

Proposal Highlights: The proposal claims that "PAA has placed over 156 Managers/Administrators. In the past six years it has assisted in the third most Manager/Administrator recruitments in the United States and more than ten times as many as any other firm located in Wisconsin." The proposal includes a suggested time frame in which the Manager would be hired by around the middle of May. PAA's satisfaction policy states, "We only bill the city after the appointment of the new Manager. If no acceptable applicant is found or if the selected person quits or is terminated for cause within one year, we redo the process for expenses only."

3. Slavin Management Consultants (Norcross, GA)
On the Web: http://www.slavinweb.com/
Contact: Robert E. Slavin, President (slavin@bellsouth.net)

Proposal Highlights: The proposal claims, "Mr. Slavin has conducted or assisted in the conduct of more than 600 successful executive searches throughout his career . . . We have significant local government recruitment experience in the Midwest and all regions of the United States." Slavin's proposal includes a list of cities in which they've helped place minority and women candidates in managerial positions. They also envision a 60-90 day precess and say that "our recruiting efforts will ensure that applicant pools are both capable and diverse." Slavin guarantees to "redo the search if the position is vacated, for any reason, within two years of the employment date of a candidate selected by the City through our efforts. We will never actively recruit any candidate who we have placed nor will we actively recruit any employee from a client organization for at least two years from the completeion date of an assignment."

On January 22 the common council received a memo from Purchasing Agent Don LaFontaine saying, "At this point I have not included any fee structure because the committee has questions concerning fees and by releasing the fee structures now may impact our ability to negotiate a more favorable price for the city." Next week the committee plans to interview each firm and check references.