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The City Utilities Board of Directors will hold closed meetings this week and next as part of the extensive search for a new general manager. Board members are looking for the person who will replace John Twitty who announced in December that he will retire this June. KSMU’s Theresa Bettmann talked with a spokesperson for City Utilities, and files this report.
The process to hire the next general manager for City Utilities is lengthy and contains several steps. When current general manager John Twitty announced he was retiring, a search committee went to work. Joel Alexander is communications manager for City Utilities. He says that several groups were involved in selecting the candidates who are going to be interviewed this week and next. The search process involved the hiring of a professional consultant specializing in utility management, members from the C-U Board of Directors, members from the City Advisory Council, and other community members. Alexander says this next step will narrow down the six semi-finalists to three possible finalists.
“This coming week there will be a series of closed board meeting sessions. And during those closed sessions they will be having interviews with these candidates. The interviews will be done on site here at City Utilities,” Alexander said.
Alexander says there are both internal and external candidates, and C-U is not releasing their names at this stage. He says the next steps will be up to the C-U board concerning the release of finalist names to the public, and whether to hold public forums, which have been done in the past. Alexander explains what City Utilities is looking for in its next general manager.
“We are kind of a unique entity, if you will. We have electric, natural gas, water, transit, and a broad band communications system. So whoever this next person will be, is someone who doesn’t necessarily just have expertise in one of those areas, but hopefully has the ability to cross over into those different disciplines, or those different utilities we provide. So, kind of big shoes to fill, if you will,” said Alexander.
Alexander says C-U hopes to announce a new general manager by mid-May. The goal is to bring in the new leader and begin the transition before John Twitty leaves in June.For KSMU News, I’m Theresa Bettmann.