Officials call special meeting to discuss city administrator
Will this be the end of McMinnville?s city administrator search, or just a false alarm?
A special session has been called for McMinnville?s Board of Mayor and Aldermen for Tuesday at 1 p.m. for the purpose of considering candidates for the city administrator position.
The city?s Finance Committee is scheduled to meet at noon Tuesday to discuss the candidates for the job. If that meeting ends in a recommendation to the full board, a vote can take place for a new city administrator at that time.
It appears city officials are prepared to either hire David Rutherford on Tuesday, or hire no one at that time. It?s been announced if the Finance Committee doesn?t recommend Rutherford to the full board, the 1 p.m. meeting will be canceled.
The on-again, off-again chain of events has gotten some city officials who don?t sit on the Finance Committee perplexed as to what will happen Tuesday.
?I?m not sure what is going on,? said Alderman Billy Wood. ?I?m out of the loop on this one. I won?t be in the loop until they make a recommendation to the board. Rutherford was on, then off, and now back on. Johnny Williams is on, and then he?s off. Before this round, I thought Glenn Abee was the one. I just wish someone would make up their mind. Who knows what?s going on and what will happen Tuesday.?
Finance Committee member and Vice Mayor Donald Hillis confirms this is a way to get the ball rolling if Rutherford?s background check and salary negotiations ordered last week are OK.
?We have made him (Rutherford) an offer,? said Hillis. ?If he accepts our offer and his background check is promising, we will send it to the full board. If negotiations haven?t gone well or we don?t get a good report on the background check, then we may be back to square one. I don?t want that but I also don?t want to hire someone who won?t be a good fit for the city.?