The City of Columbia released a city manager search survey Wednesday in an effort to increase community input. In the survey, citizens will have an opportunity to voice their opinion on what qualities they would like to see in their next community leader.
The survey will help focus City Council’s search for former City Manager Mike Matthes’ replacement.
Margrace Buckler is Columbia’s Human Resources Director. She said the survey gives citizens to pinpoint what professional experience the city will look for.
“Do you need somebody who has fiscal management? Have they been in a university community? Have they got experience really engaging with the community and community stakeholders and being responsive to the community?”
CPS HR consulting, a consultant firm hired by the city, will administer and collect the data from the surveys. Inside citizens are asked to rank professional skills and fill out a series of fill-in-the-blanks centered around leadership qualities.
Pam Derby is a supervising executive recruiter for CPS HR. She said the information they gather will help guide the next step of the search.
“This information is also very educational for us as the recruiters, so that when were doing interviews with candidate, that we have a good sense of what everyone is looking for in this person.”
Following the survey deadline, CPS HR will aggregate and report the data from the survey to City Council. The survey will remain open until Friday, March 15.
