The City of Homewood is poised to hire its first permanent city manager, taking the first step by approving a resolution offering the position to acting city manager Cale Smith. At a special-called meeting on Monday night, the council passed a resolution authorizing the City to make a formal offer to Smith with a starting salary of $208,000.
According to Mayor Jennifer Andress, the City received 61 applications. Kim Kinder, director of Human Resources, worked with Sam Gaston, the special assistant to the city manager, to select 14 qualified candidates for one-hour interviews, of whom 11 accepted. After that, five were offered an additional 90-minute interview,
“The majority of the final candidates are qualified and can start tomorrow,” Andress stated.
“I find that he has the experience working in local government as a senior engineer at a private firm, working with local government, and he also has worked in our city as a city engineer, a department head, and now as acting city manager,” City Councilman Nick Sims said in making the nomination.
While all council members spoke favorably about Smith, Councilman Chris Lane said he agreed with their points but still believed Smith was not the best choice.
“I'm personally looking for, and I ran to pick the most qualified city manager out there,” Lane began.
“The question is, what does Homewood really need? We need finance backgrounds. We need economic and development backgrounds. Those are the things I look for in the applicants that are here,” before giving another, more experienced candidate his support.
Lane voted against the initial motion to approve Smith for the role, but he ultimately voted for the resolution, which made the offer unanimous.
Andress also noted in the meeting that Sam Gaston will remain for an additional year beyond his originally planned term.
The issue will be brought up for a final vote at the next regularly scheduled city council meeting.
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