Longview moves to select city manager search firm in September

LONGVIEW — Longview will work over the next month to select a firm to run the search for a permanent city manager.

The Longview City Council approved the next phase of the search process 6-1 at Tuesday night’s meeting, with Council member Kalei LaFave voting against. She didn’t explain her vote.

The recommendation from a council subcommittee working on the manager search agreed to reach out to four recruiting firms who had experience running city manager searches to gauge their methods. The subcommittee will keep meeting over the next month and the full council will hopefully select a firm at the Sept. 26 meeting.

“We want to prioritize maximum public involvement from the beginning,” Council member Ruth Kendall said. “This includes organizing community roundtables and actively engaging community leaders.”

The subcommittee of Kendall, Erik Halvorson and Keith Young met three times over the last few months to discuss the search possibilities.

A second subcommittee of Angie Wean and LaFave did not meet, though Wean said she is excited about finding a firm that would gather a lot of public feedback.

Jim Duscha was appointed as Longview’s interim city manager in March immediately after the council voted to terminate manager Kris Swanson.