Evanston To Reveal Names Of Two City Manager Finalists, Hold Town Hall

EVANSTON, IL — City officials plan to reveal the names of two finalists for the job of Evanston city manager on Friday ahead of a scheduled candidate town hall meeting next week.

After the Evanston City Council hired recruitment firm Stanton Chase to conduct a second nationwide search for candidates suitable to become chief executive of the municipality — the only city staffer hired directly by alderpeople — the firm identified 75 potential candidates, according to city staff.

Councilmembers narrowed the pool down to five semifinalists and conducted interviews with them during the week of April 4, city staff announced. Three of them were selected for follow-up interviews, and two of those were selected as finalists, whose names will be publicly revealed after they notify their current employers.

Kelley Gandurski has served as interim city manager since last year's negotiated resignation of former City Manager Erika Storlie amid an investigation into the city's handling of allegations of sexual misconduct among lakefront staff.

The first search, conducted by the Sacramento, California-based firm Cooperative Personnel Services, produced a pair of finalists. But when one of them elected to take a job in Harris County, Texas, city officials decided to start over with a new search firm.

The town hall with the first of the two new finalists is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday over Zoom video-teleconferencing software. The second finalist will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Community members must submit questions in advance in order for them to be asked at the meeting. Suggested questions will be accepted until 5 p.m. Monday, and after the event, residents can provide input via a feedback form, according to an announcement from staff.

"During the previous city manager search, Council members benefited greatly from public feedback about the candidates; on the other hand, concerns were raised that the mechanisms used to gain that input did not afford all residents equal opportunity to participate," it said. "Therefore, during this search, Council is asking all interested residents to submit questions in advance, and will create a broadly accessible venue for all residents to share feedback after the town hall."

On May 6, the two candidates are due to be interviewed by panels made up of community stakeholders, director-level city staff and, for the first time, non-senior city staff in addition to councilmembers.

After getting feedback from the meetings and interviews scheduled for next Friday, the City Council is then expected to deliberate on a choice at its meeting the following Monday, May 9.

Related:

• Cost Of Evanston City Manager Search Rises To $95,000
• Finalist For Evanston City Manager Takes Different Job
• Evanston City Manager Finalists Named, Community Meetings Planned