The Festus City Council has scheduled a special meeting with only a closed session on the agenda for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, at City Hall.
“That has to do with the search for a new city administrator,” said Michael Christopher, the city’s interim city administrator. Christopher, the Festus public works director, has held both jobs since Greg Camp departed the city administrator position Feb. 20 to take a similar job in Silverthorne, Colo.
Christopher said there could be meetings before a new city administrator is selected.
“The upcoming meetings will involve the continued search for a city administrator,” he said in a statement April 16. “We do not have a target date (for announcing the new hire).”
Mayor Sam Richards said the search was essentially paused after the April 7 election, when four incumbent council members were unseated by four challengers. All of the challengers announced during their campaigns they opposed the Festus data center development project of CRG of St. Louis.
The council held a special meeting with a closed session April 6 for the purpose of seeking a new city administrator. A second special meeting scheduled for April 8 was canceled due to lack of a quorum.
Richards said he spoke to the city attorney and decided it would be better to wait for the newly elected council members to join the council so they could participate in interviewing the final five candidates for the city administrator job. The new council members were sworn in for their positions at the April 13 council meeting.
City officials began searching for Camp’s replacement shortly after Jan. 14, when the Silverthorne Town Council voted to hire him as town manager.
Festus leaders initially set a deadline for applications of Jan. 30, but extended the application period to March 13. Officials said a total of 34 people applied for the position covering both deadlines.