Aberdeen’s city administrator and finance director positions will likely remain empty for the near future, according to Mayor Erik Larson in an interview. The two major city government positions have both been vacant for at least year now, since previous Finance Director Mike Folkers left the position last April and a headhunting firm began looking for candidates for the new city administrator position.
With the finance department, Larson said it’s been operating well with Hoquiam Finance Director Corri Schmid serving as the interim director in Aberdeen. Since bringing in Schmid, Larson said the city has stopped actively searching to hire for the position and instead is focused on operating more smoothly with the current staff.
“We’re functioning fine how we are, but ultimately down the line once everything is more stable, that’s something we’ll take a look at: Are we going to hire an assistant finance director and continue to have Corri be the interim? Will we end that relationship and start a full-time position? That decision hasn’t been made,” Larson said.
There have been previous candidates for both positions, but there were issues last year with people turning down the position in Aberdeen in favor of better-paying jobs in other cities. The Aberdeen City Council approved new higher pay scales for both positions in the 2019 annual city budget, which Larson said would make them competitive with other cities, but no new candidates have popped up recently.
Larson said part of the reason is it’s an election year, and he thinks candidates for a city administrator likely want to wait until seeing who the mayor will be, so they wouldn’t potentially be removed from the position soon after hiring.
“Because city administrators are very forward-facing positions that tend to be very political, there’s not a lot of interest I think for people applying for a job when they aren’t sure what will happen with the election,” said Larson. “A lot of the time when you have a change-over in the leadership of a city, one of the first things that goes is city administrator.”
He added that there likely won’t be updates on city administrator candidates until the end of summer or September. The city hired a headhunting firm to find city administrator candidates, and last year there was a pool of three candidates and a preferred final one, but they were “unable to come to an agreement, mostly based on salary,” Larson said.
When Larson ran for mayor several years ago, getting a city administrator was one of his goals. While it has taken years with no hire for the position, Larson said his priority is to avoid rushing to pick a city administrator and ensure someone fit for the position is chosen.
“I think the key for me is because it’s a new position for the city, I’ve been very conscious about not hiring the wrong person,” said Larson. “To that end, I think the worst thing that could happen is to rush it and hire the wrong person, especially since they will need to create what the position is within the city’s framework.”
