Timeline for the selection of Branson's city administrator

By GARY J. GROMAN, Independent Journalist

On Tuesday April 19, 2022, the Branson Board of Aldermen (Board), by unanimous vote, put City Administrator Stan Dobbins on administrative leave as of April 20, 2022. In a May 19, 2022, Board Study session, Jan Fischer, Branson’s Director of Human Resources, presented a detailed outline of the search process and criteria for selecting the city’s new Administrator.

The process would begin with a Local Search conducted through the city’s Human Resources Department. If the Local Search did not come up with a large enough pool of qualified candidates, the city would hire an outside Executive Search firm to assist in the process.

The following Q&A Session on July 25, with Jan Fischer explains the status of the process thus far. The target date for selecting a new City Administrator is September 30, 2022.

QUESTION: Did you begin a Local Search process for a new City Administrator soon after the May 19, 2022, Study Session?

JF: Yes.

QUESTION: At that time, did you believe that was the totality of the process, or was it your understanding that an Executive Search firm could be retained if the Local Search did not work?

JF: That was my understanding.

QUESTION: If the Local Process didn’t come up with a big enough pool of qualified candidates and an Executive Search firm was hired, would the candidates from the Local Process automatically be included as part of the Executive Search.

JF: Yes.

QUESTION: Who interviewed the candidates for the City Administrator on June 30 and July 6?

JF: The members of the Human Resources Committee on the Board of Aldermen Larry Milton, Ralph LeBlanc, and Chuck Rodriguez; Lisa Westfall; and myself.

QUESTION: As a result of those interviews, was any decision made to recommend any of the candidates to the Board for their action?

JF: No. The premise was we would interview all of the applicants to see who we would then recommend to the Board of Aldermen. We stopped after those first three.

QUESTION: Were the July 6, 2022, interviews conducted?

JF: No. We stopped after the first three on June 30, 2022.

QUESTION: Before the interviews, you told the Board that you thought the pool of candidates was “quite shallow,” giving the impression that you would have liked to see a deeper pool. Did anything happen during the interviews on June 30 to cause you to change that position?

JF: No.

QUESTION: Has an agreement been finalized with Baker Tilly to do an Executive Search?

JF: At this point [July 25, 2022], we’re finalizing all of the paperwork and everything. I’m not sure where we sit as far as to process side, signatures, and things like that. I would have to follow up with that.

QUESTION: Do you have any idea when the notice will go out and we will start getting applicants?

JF: I would hope within the next week or so.

QUESTION: Do you have an opinion on whether the search for a new city administrator will be completed by September 30, 2022.

JF: Based on what has been done so far, we have developed a lot of criteria that Baker Tilly would use. Normally, they would follow up with the Board and go through what has already been done. We were able to shorten that by over a month. In the realm of things, we are more than likely going to focus on the Midwest region for applicants. This will facilitate getting people in and going through the due diligence process. September is a reasonable time frame.

QUESTION: On September 30, 2022, are we going to have the Board having made an offer to a candidate, or are we just going to have the candidate with the offering process to that candidate starting from there?

JF: I would have to take a hard look at the timeline. I would hope we would get to that point where the offer is made.

QUESTION: Is there anything you would like to add?

JF: My basic premise is that I want to expand the pool of applicants so that we can make the best selection possible.

QUESTION: Would that have been the case if you were impressed with the initial pool of applicants developed during the Local Process?

JF: No. A pool of only nine applicants with three, at best, being qualified was just too skimpy.