Kalispell plans hiring schedule

By JOHN STANG/Daily Inter Lake

The Kalispell City Council aims to hire a new city manager by April.

Council members appeared to agree Monday with Interim City Manager Myrt Webb's timetable to hire a replacement for terminated City Manager Jim Patrick.

Monday's meeting was a workshop session at which no votes were legally allowed.

The timetable calls for advertising the opening this month and appointing a selection committee in December.

January will be used to trim the applicants to 20. That number is to be cut to 10 and then five in February.

The finalists' interviews and contract negotiations with the top candidate are to take place in March.

Right now, the annual salary range for a new Kalispell city manager is $81,553 to $114,175. Some city department heads already make more than $81,553 a year.

There was some talk of possibly raising that range to $95,000 to $125,000.

By comparison, Whitefish last week hired a new city manager, Chuck Stearns, for an annual salary of $110,000.

Council members on Monday discussed the qualifications for a new city manager - without reaching any consensus.

Some thought the new manager should have a master's degree in public administration. Others did not.

Some council members said that previous city manager experience is not necessary. Others thought that experience is necessary, especially when dealing with a 185-person work force including employees covered by union contracts.

Some suggested a base annual salary of $80,000 with bonuses of up to $20,000 a year - although Webb countered that this approach would have legal pitfalls when the bonus would be calculated.