Town Works To Avoid Previous Embarrassing Misstep Of Their First Search
In a special meeting on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, the Oxford Town Commissioners voted to contract with the Baker Tilley firm to conduct their search for a new town manager to replace retired manager Cheryl Lewis, who ended her controversial 12-year tenure in the town in June.
Prior to her retirement, Lewis had conducted a search for her replacement but ended up recommending a man who had lurid criminal charges in his past. The man was let go before he officially started.
Commissioner Katrina Greer had recommended a professional search firm earlier in the Spring, but was outvoted by two other commissioners, Tom Costigan and the appointed Commissioner Susan Botkin who assigned the task to former town manager Lewis.
After that hiring debacle, the town conducted five virtual interviews with different search firms. Commissioners developed a matrix of what they were looking for and then select the two that best fit their needs, Baker Tilly and Municipal Solutions.
Tuesday’s meeting began with Greer motioning that the town use Baker Tilly citing the consistent positive reviews of the firm and their draw from a diverse talent pool. The firm’s presentation to the Commissioners was given by Yolanda Howze.
Public Sector Executive Recruitment – Baker Tilly
Here is some information from their website:
Greer asked for a second, but before she could get one, Costigan motioned that the town use Municipal Solutions. He stated that he didn’t want to use Baker Tilly citing some information from an internet blog site that seemed to condemn the city that used Baker Tilly for open meeting act violations rather than problems with the hiring firm itself and also spoke of a lawsuit against a different division of the larger corporation. Greer rebutted that information citing customers’ rave reviews of Baker Tilly and reminded her fellow commissioners that the lawsuit had nothing to do with the hiring arm of the company. Commissioner Norm Bell, who was participating virtually, citied his experience that it was important to look at different divisions of a corporation independently and that he thought Baker Tilly fit Oxford’s hiring needs the best. He voted with Greer thus giving the decision to Baker Tilly.
The meeting was then adjourned.
The next meeting will be next Tuesday, August 27, at 6 p.m.
Video of the meeting:
Jan Greenhawk, Author
