Ann Arbor City Admin: Interviews July 12-13

At a meeting of the Ann Arbor city council’s city administrator search committee, held Monday afternoon June 13, a timeline for interviews of the yet-to-be-determined finalists was set.

The committee plans to meet on July 5 with its recruiter, Scott Reilly of Affion Public, to winnow 8-10 finalists down to three or four to be interviewed in Ann Arbor. Those interviews would take place the following week, on July 12-13. The two-day schedule will include a reception with the public, some kind of public interaction, and interviews with city councilmembers and city staff. The two-day schedule will also likely include a tour of the city.

If a successful candidate is identified during the two-day period, the council could approve a contingent offer as early as July 18, its second meeting in July, or on Aug. 4, its first meeting in August. At Monday’s committee meeting, mayor John Hieftje – who attended along with other search committee members Sabra Briere (Ward 1), Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) and Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) – said that the city is currently running smoothly under interim administrator Tom Crawford, who also serves as the city’s chief financial officer. So Hieftje said he would feel comfortable continuing with that leadership, even if a successful candidate were not identified.

The city’s head of human resources, Robyn Wilkerson, reported to the committee that 41 applications have been submitted for the job so far. More are expected before the deadline for submission, which is June 20. The city administrator job came open when Roger Fraser announced his resignation, which was effective at the end of April.