Carrboro to Define Criteria for New Manager

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen worked with the head of the Mercer Group Inc. on Tuesday to make preliminary decisions and set a timeline for its search for a new town manager.

The board hired the Mercer Group in December after former Town Manager Robert Morgan resigned to take the job of assistant town manager in Greensboro.

Attorney Mike Brough is serving as interim town manager until the board completes its search.

The search will take another 90 to 100 days, said Jim Mercer, head of the Mercer Group.

The first step will be for Mercer to determine the criteria by which both the board and the citizens would like the search firm to judge applicants.

Mercer will spend today in Carrboro getting to know board members and touring the town with Mayor Mike Nelson.

The board decided to conduct two citizen focus groups, the first made up of advisory board chairmen and the second of local leaders and representatives.

"I think our citizens have come to expect to be a part of all of our processes," Nelson said.

The board compiled a list of local leaders for Deputy Town Clerk Richard White to invite. The purpose of the meetings is not to ensure every invitee attends but rather to offer an opportunity for community participation.

By next week, Mercer will use the suggestions to create a brochure that will describe Carrboro as a place to live and work and also explain how the town government operates, based on its charter, and list the most pressing issues Carrboro faces.

The recruitment process, which Mercer projected will begin in the next two weeks, will be about 45 days of advertising and networking, Mercer's preferred method. "The best people usually aren't the ones who respond to the ads," he said.

The board will decide in the next two weeks when it will release the names of applicants being considered.

The Personal Records Privacy Act prohibits the board from exposing any information about the applicants until after hiring without the applicants' consent.

Mercer said he expects between 100 and 120 applicants. By mid-March the firm will approach the board with a narrowed list of applicants. "There's usually a natural cutoff, usually at 12 to 15 people," Mercer said.

At that point, Mercer said, he will sit down with the board for what he called a "roll-up-our-sleeves work session" to discuss the applicant pool.

If the board is not satisfied, members will have access to the other applications. According to its contract, the Mercer Group will continue the search until the board is satisfied with the pool.

By roughly April 5 the board will conduct its final interviews of the last five or so candidates and make its decision.

If the applicant accepts, the board will allow him between 30 and 60 days to give notice to his employers.

"You want to know that they're professional enough to close things in a professional manner," Mercer said.

The board plans for the new town manager to be hired in time to be involved in arranging the budget he will help to implement the next fiscal year.

The board is in session from July 1 to June 30. "I will not be looking for a town manager this summer," Alderman Joal Broun said.

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.