If all goes according to plan, the City of Batavia will have a new manager by the time its next Council meeting takes place on Aug. 13.
That’s the latest word from Council President Eugene Jankowski, who said today that the three-person committee charged with finding a qualified administrator has “left no stone unturned” in its quest for someone to replace former manager Jason Molino, who left in January for a similar position for Tompkins County.
“It is my hope that we will be welcoming the new manager at our August meeting,” said Jankowski, who has been working with Council members Bob Bialkowski and Adam Tabelski – along with the Novak Consulting Group of Cincinnati, Ohio. “In fact, you should know even before that because the agenda will be out a few days before the meeting.”
Jankowski said he is bound by a confidentiality agreement to not offer more details about the prospective candidate – the search is down to one finalist – but did say the salary will be in the advertised range of $110,000-plus.
“We’ve identified someone who we feel very comfortable with,” Jankowski said. “We have conducted multiple interviews, background checks, credit checks, just about everything I can think of and even more that Novak came up with. It has been a very thorough investigation.”
Jankowski said an offer has been made to the finalist, but “no contract has been signed yet as lawyers (on both sides) are involved.”
He said the committee’s next step is to work out how to handle the introduction process to the community.
“We’ll be doing that over the next two weeks,” he said.
City Council has reached this point after interviewing five finalists during executive sessions in early July.
Public Works Director Matt Worth has been handling the city manager responsibilities since Molino’s departure, but indicated that he was not interested in the permanent manager position.
