Mountlake Terrace city manager interviews delayed two weeks

Mountlake Terrace officials will conduct interviews May 13-14 with candidates to be the new city manager.

That puts the city two weeks behind the schedule reported in early March.

The Mountlake Terrace City Council will announce the number of finalists and their names after a special meeting before the regular May 2 council meeting.

The special meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday at the city council chamber, with discussion of the process in open public meeting, and discussion of candidates in executive session. The regular council meeting will follow at 7 p.m.

Finalists for the city manager position are scheduled to meet with department heads Friday afternoon, May 13, and then meet community members at a 6 p.m. reception at the Ballinger Lake Clubhouse.

Council members plan to interview candidates Saturday, May 14, with a decision soon after the interviews.

The Council is working with recruiting firm Colin Baenziger &Associates, which already has identified top city-manager candidates from among 40 applicants for the position. The firm has done screening interviews and background and reference checks.

Colin Baenziger &Associates is doing the search for free because the manager hired in its previous search didn’t stay two years.

The firm had conducted the 2013 search that led to the city’s hiring of Arlene Fisher, with a guarantee of providing a free recruiting service if the incumbent did not stay for at least two years.

Fisher, hired in 2014, resigned in 2015 in lieu of termination.

Since Fisher resigned, assistant City Manager Scott Hugill has been the interim city manager.

Mountlake Terrace has a council-manager form of government, in which the seven elected part-time city council members appoint a full-time professional city manager as the city’s chief executive officer. The council elects one of its members to have the title of mayor while presiding over council meetings and carrying out ceremonial duties.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.

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