GLADSTONE – Gladstone Mayor Jay Bostwick and Commissioner Steve Viau have been appointed to a committee to identify local leadership advisory services in their effort to find a new city manager.

Viau said the commission has been concerned about the cost of other city manager search options. He said they plan to talk with the Lordstone Corporation in Gladstone, an executive search firm.

“We’re looking at them to check into the leadership advisory portion of it where we can get all of the commissioner’s on the right page to realize what we need in our manager and what we want because if we disagree among ourselves it can be very difficult to go out – and expense – to find a city manager,” said Viau.

Commissioner Mike O’Connor said they need to determine what they want the focus of the city manager to be. Along with experience, O’Connor said there are several things he is looking for in a new manager.

“We would like someone who wants to stay for a long period of time and someone who can really work on economic development. I think that is something that Gladstone is really needing is someone who can really focus on that. So part of that is how we structure the organization, city departments, so they can operate with less supervision so the new city manager would have time to do these kind of endeavors,” O’Connor said.

Viau said there is no timeline set to hire a new city manager. Darla Falcon was terminated in June when the city commission decided not to renew her contract.

“I just can’t give a date. I mean, if Mayor Bostwick and I come up with something quick, we may even have to call a special meeting. I don’t think that is out of the realm to do something like that. It was brought up during our public forum. People are wondering where we are with this search,” he said.

Viau said he also hopes to learn how other communities replace their city managers when he attends a Michigan Municipal League conference in mid-September.