After Festus leaders extended the deadline more than a month for applications to fill the open city administrator position, the pool of prospects to replace the departed Greg Camp mushroomed by 24.
“We’ve had 34 applicants,” said Michael Christopher, the interim city administrator. “That’s the whole group. That’s everybody. They’ve kind of come in over the entire period of time. Ten were in the original posting.”
Since Camp’s departure, Christopher continued his job as public works director while also adding on the duties of interim city administrator.
Camp, the city administrator from 2017 until his last day at Festus on Feb. 20, left to take the position of city town manager at Silverthorne, Colo.
The original deadline for those wishing to apply for the Festus job had been Jan. 30; the deadline was extended to March 13.
Christopher said the next step in the hiring process is for city leaders to read and discuss the applications.
“We will have a closed meeting where the councilmen will have a chance to get together and talk about all the applicants and talk about who will be the best fit,” he said. “After that, we will start talking about setting up interviews.”
Mayor Sam Richards and City Council members ultimately will choose the new city administrator, Christopher said.
“It’s the mayor and council who are the interview and hiring panel,” he said. “There will be some staff there just to help facilitate and help supply all the information that’s been submitted.”
After initially targeting to hire Camp’s replacement a couple of weeks before he left the job, city leaders have not set a date to pick a new city administrator, Christopher said.
“I think they’re wanting to have someone in place, but they’re wanting to take their time, just to make sure,” he said. “I don’t think we have a date yet.
“We’re wanting to review all the applications first (before setting up personal interviews). We’re still trying to set up times when people would be able to meet.”
He said the city administrator search has not been out of the ordinary.
“It’s being treated like any other job search except, to make a selection, we’ve got to get several individuals together at the same time,” Christopher said.
He said the city set a pay range of $130,000-$180,000 for the new city administrator. Camp’s final salary at Festus was $163,707, plus a $350 monthly car allowance.
Christopher said he is not one of the applicants for the position.
“I am fine with being the interim and making sure things continue to run smoothly with the city,” he said. “I am not interested in being the city administrator.”
He said the extension for receiving city administrator applications was not a reflection on the first round of applications received.
“We did get some very qualified individuals that applied for it both from the area and outside of the area,” Christopher said. “I think us taking the time to cast a wider net is only going to help us with picking a new city administrator.”