The Henderson City Commission will soon start advertising to fill City Manager Buzzy Newman’s position.
At Tuesday’s commission meeting, Newman asked that the commission start the process. He said it will take months if all goes well.
Newman told the commission that he plans to retire early in 2025. He said in February he’ll turn 65, which will make him eligible for Medicare and Social Security.
He asked the commission to consider “what would the succession plan look like for replacing my position.”
Mayor Brad Staton said the process will start with applications coming to the city’s human resources department before the commission looks at the applications. He said a winnowing down process of the applications would need to occur after, but that hasn’t been determined yet.
If the commission were to meet to review the applications, the meeting by law would need to be advertised. Once the meeting is started, the commission would need to vote to go into executive session to discuss personnel issues.
Staton said he wants the entire commission to participate in the process, instead of a group consisting of a couple commissioners and other staff, because the new city manager will work directly for the commission.
In other recent hires, hiring committees have included other city staff, but “on this one, the city commission is going to be driving the bus,” Staton said.
Staton said he hopes that the job opening can be posted in September and stay up for 4-6 weeks. He said it would be posted on job boards in Kentucky and surrounding states.
He believes a replacement can be in place by January, which would give the new city manager a couple months to receive some training from and/or pick Newman’s brain about the workings of city government.
Newman said he believes a candidate from Kentucky would have an upper leg in getting the job. Though municipalities in other states employ the city manager form of government, Kentucky has different state statutes involving local government that might take time for an out-of-stater to learn, he said.
In other city commission news:
- The commission OK’d Newman to spearhead putting the former administrative office building for Henderson Municipal Power & Light on the market. The city recently put the building up for online auction, but the city commission rejected the bid because it wasn’t high enough. Read that past story here.
