City manager hiring on track with six applicants

By Lisa Brody

Current Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus recently gave an update on the recruitment process for a new city manager, noting they currently have six strong candidates to interview, which will then be narrowed down to three or four.

“The city manager recruitment has closed, securing six candidates that meet the desired qualifications and will be provided to the commission in a separate confidential message. It is the recommendation of Human Resources that first-round interviews be conducted in-house, with a list of three to four candidates narrowed down for a public Meet & Greet with the city commission,” Markus wrote in his December city manager report.

At the December 19 city commission meeting, Markus said after speaking with city attorney Mary Kucharek, it is recommended that they interview those six candidates by Zoom, “because some candidates have to travel, and then we can reduce that number to three or four, and have a public forum for a meet and greet. We would send them to different parts of the room and let the public chat with them about their experiences and may ask questions of them. We'd solicit feedback from the public. The commission would then have the final interviews, and the commission would make an offer to a candidate that would enter into negotiations as to an agreement.”

While a time line was not specified, some time in January was referred to for the Zoom interviews.

Markus current stint with the city is expected to end in June of this year.