Margaret Norris, of the Municipal Technical Advisory Service, spoke to the Cleveland City Council about the process of finding a new city manager
photo by Claire Henley Miller
In the next steps to hire a city manager, the Cleveland City Council on Monday approved a motion to form a screening committee to weed out applicants for the position that is expected to bring in “tons” of applications.
After 42 years of working for the city of Cleveland, City Manager Janice Casteel has announced her upcoming retirement.
“I personally think we’re going to have tons of applicants,” Councilman David May, Jr. said of the open job.
The screening committee will be made up of seven candidates that council members elect from each district.
During the work session prior to the regular meeting, the topic of concern revolved around hiring the right person for the job.
“I think we need to cast a very large net,” Councilman Bill Estes said in regards to finding the right candidate. His statement ran against some views presented at the last council meeting to hire a city manager from Tennessee, as that person would already be familiar with state ordinances.
Agreeing with Councilman Estes, Councilman Avery Johnson said the city should conduct a national search for the city manager.
According to Councilman Richard Banks, the city should operate the hiring process as a business. Businesses hire headhunters - individuals who search for suitable candidates for the job. But Councilman Banks would want the headhunter to work with MTAS (Municipal Technical Advisory Services) - an agency that offers technical consulting to cities in Tennessee.
According to one Cleveland resident, the city of Cleveland has changed over the years from being a small farm community to a metropolitan city in need of “top talent.” The resident agreed a headhunter working in coordination with MTAS would be an appropriate strategy for finding the next city manager.
After council members voted unanimously to form the Screening Community, they voted to have headhunters submit an RFQ (request for quote) by the next council meeting.
During the work session council members said the search for a city manager would cost around $25,000 to $30,000.
On a different topic, council members approved the motion to have the Tennessee Attorney General look at the increase in the Hotel/Motel tax, which is reportedly set to benefit Bradley County and not the city of Cleveland.
The Bradley County Commission recently requested an increase in the Hotel/Motel tax from five percent to seven percent. While 80 percent of the money from the increase will go into a tourism fund, the other 20 percent will go to the county to be applied towards county projects.
Councilman Dale Hughes, who runs two hotels in Cleveland, said the city operates 23 hotel/motels; yet none of the money from the two percent tax increase will go to the city. He questioned if the city should be the recipient of some of these funds and inquired if the attorney general could be consulted on the matter.
According to Ms. Casteel, if the city wants to benefit from the increase in the hotel/motel tax, it would have to add its own tax in addition to the two percent established by the county.
“If it’s going to happen, the city should get its share,” Councilman Hughes said.
Council members voted unanimously to consult the attorney general on the issue.
The members also voted unanimously in favor of the necessity of a 24-hour taxicab service in the city of Cleveland.
Taxi Driver William Franklin Honey, Jr. requested a taxicab permit to open Speedy Cab - a 24/7 service. He claimed the city of Cleveland and Bradley County needed his business because they currently do not have a taxicab service that operates past midnight.
According to a member of the public, who spoke in opposition to Speedy Cab, the city cab service she works for stays open until 2 a.m. on Fridays, 3 a.m. on Saturdays. She said Mr. Honey was taking away jobs for the taxi company she works for.
To clarify the resolution, Councilman May said, “If we vote for this motion we’re saying we think Cleveland is big enough to have another cab company.”
With council members approving the permit request, the next steps to get Speedy Cab running are background checks on the cab drivers and inspections on the company vehicles.