Crossville city council appears much
closer to deciding on the hiring a new city manager after
interviewing the three remaining finalists twice.
A special called meeting is set for
Tuesday February 7 at 6:30 PM. That will be a busy night for the
council with a work session set for 5 PM, a special called beer board
at 6:00 PM and the called meeting to consider hiring a city manager.
The called meeting's agenda is listed
as “discussion and action on hiring a city manager.” Members
could either move forward with a hiring decision or discuss and
decide on how to proceed with the decision. It is unclear which way
they will go. At the end of the second work session, Councilman Scot
Shanks said he would like to see a unanimous vote for whoever is
chosen.
Councilman J. H. Graham has been unable
to attend most of the interview meetings in person due to recent
emergency surgery and while he is improving it is unclear if he will
be able to attend the called meeting next Tuesday.
Council members interviewed three finalist candidates for the city manager position.
Here they talk to Steve Foote. Very few of the public attended the interview sessions.
Council spent several hours Monday and
Tuesday asking questions of the three candidates including Dennis
Sparks and David Foote Monday then Greg Wood on Tuesday evening.
Council had planned a second interview Tuesday but the candidate Mark
Reeter informed the city he had taken another position.
One of the more interesting questions
asked of the 3 remaining candidates came from new council member Scot
Shanks asking each to describe themselves in 5 words. Candidate
David Sparks described himself as “honest, organized, faithful,
skilled and experienced.” David Foote described himself as
“determined, ethical, analytical and having common sense.” The
final candidate, Greg Wood answered the question saying that he was
“genuine, a simple man, compassionate, logical, not taking himself
too seriously and a team player.”
Each candidate was asked about their
preferred working hours and if they would participate in events after
hours if needed. All indicated they were not regular office hour
employees and that they would participate in events outside of
regular hours as well.
Mr. Sparks and Mr. Wood have both
served as county administrators or managers previously and Mr. Foote
has been a director of planning and community development. Foote was
asked by councilman Shanks about why they should consider him over
the others who had more experience and Foote responded that the other
applicants did not have manager experience when they got their first
job in that position.
Foote also described himself as
successful in many different jobs and that he always tried to do more
than expected. “My employers got more than they paid for with me.”
Councilman Harris asked eac candidate
about how they handled relations with the press. Mr. Sparks said,
“Tell them the truth.” Mr. Foote said that news was an important
aspect adding that it used to be newspapers but now includes other
outlets and social media. He added that he liked to work in harmony
with the media. Mr. Wood said that he had done public affairs work
during his time in the air force and said the best thing is to be
straight with them, “Don't seem like you're hiding something from
them.”
The three candidates all spent some
time in Crossville prior to the in person interviews. Mr. Sparks,
who has worked in aviation said he enjoyed visiting the airport and
in addition he observed lots of retail business, restaurants and
manufacturing. He commented on Crossville being the Golf Capital of
Tennessee. “This is a nice city that you can be proud of and I'd
be proud to work for you,” commented Sparks.
Mr. Foote described Crossville as
“Thriving, a place people are moving to, not away from. It is
important to be a place people want to be.”
Mr. Wood said that “Crossville was a
great place to live.” He said he had looked around and found out
some things adding, “None of it scared me off.”
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