Joliet gets 25 résumés for city manager job

Joliet received 25 résumés for its open city manager job as of late afternoon Friday, the last day to apply.

The number is small compared to previous openings, when the city enlisted the help of professional recruitment services to seek city manager candidates. But the process was marred by City Council disputes over whether to open up the job at all to outside candidates and controversy over the recruitment process.

The city is handling the recruitment of a city manager in-house.

Mayor Bob O’Dekirk said Friday he wants to convene a council committee that will review the résumés as soon as the coming week.

“I think we all know this process has taken way too long, and we need to move forward,” O’Dekirk said.

The mayor said he would like to have a new city manager selected by the end of the year, but said other problems, such as the budget and a pending decision on finding a new source of water, may delay that.

Applicants had until the end of business Friday to submit résumés. A final count on the number submitted was not available, but the human resources department had 25 résumés as of 4 p.m.

The city received more than 80 résumés before hiring David Hales in 2017. But Hales left after less than a year on the job, and some council members did not want to repeat the professional recruitment process that led to his hiring.

The city is on its second interim city manager since Hales left in October 2018. Current interim City Manager Steve Jones is not a candidate for the job and is working on a contract that runs through February. City Attorney Martin Shanahan, the previous interim city manager, had said he would be a candidate.