City Manager replacement sought

The Portales City Council will be looking for retiring City Manager Tom Howell's replacement sooner than later.

At Thursday night's city council meeting, Mayor Sharon King and councilors approved changes to the city manager job description, one of the last steps they're taking before opening the search.

Councilors agreed at a workshop in November they would begin their search for the new city manager on June 1, but now they plan to open the search as early as February. Howell is set to retire in December.

The council agreed starting the search as early as possible will give them more time to find the best candidate.

Prior to approving changes to the job description, there was a debate amongst councilors about including certain details on their proposed job posting, such as hours per week, and salary information.

Ward A Councilor Antonio Salguero said including the position's shift to be 40 hours per week is misleading because often times the job of a city manager entails more.

"The job requires more than that," Salguero said firmly.

King requested to completely strike any information about shift hours, agreeing that candidates who apply will know what kind of time the job requires.

Ward C Councilor Leo Lovett suggested they add a salary range of about $65,000 to $70,000 with a maximum cap of $83,000, Howell's current salary, but other councilors argued that it may not be wise to put salary information because it can discourage people from applying.

"Perhaps we should look into that a little deeper," said Ward D Councilor Keith Thomas.

Thomas asked Howell how city manager salaries of other cities similar to the size of Portales compare and Howell replied that Portales is on the lower end.

"I just want us to get a qualified candidate for a reasonable amount," Thomas said. "I want us to be competitive and attract the best candidate. I'm almost thinking we need to step back and do a study to find out the going rate."

"The going rate is what we can pay," joked Councilor Matt Hunton, but said that councilors may put themselves in constraints if promising a certain salary, possibly not attracting too many candidates.

Ultimately, the council agreed to make the salary negotiable based on experience but also include a range to give candidates an idea of how much the job may pay.