“Manager search criticized” plus 3 more

Manager search criticized
Search for new University of Kentucky president will draw plenty of input
Bernards Township discussion to focus on library as next chapter in job search
Search on again for a Moreno Valley city manager

Posted: 09 Sep 2010 06:59 AM PDT

A town manager search portrayed for months as skewed in favor of the in-house candidate has come under fire from the opposite direction: as suspiciously favoring the outsider who actually won the job.

Search committee member Rebecca Center, who is long-time chairman of the town's personnel wage board, said she has "serious concerns" with the process that led her committee, and then a divided board of selectmen, to put Hingham town administrator Kevin Paicos in line for Foxboro's top job.

"The process upset me terribly," Center said.

Center said she has taken no position for or against either of the two finalists. She said, however, that she made three calls about Paicos' background, without receiving a positive comment, while her three inquiries into finalist Randy Scollins' work history turned up high marks.

Center, who declined to be specific about her own background research into the candidates, said she told the search committee last week of her concerns with the process that led to Paicos.

Center said she is troubled that the board of selectmen, which voted 4 to 1 to enter into contract talks with Paicos pending a background investigation, may have received only a brief summary of the results, instead of the raw data.

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Retired town manager Andrew Gala, now serving in the post on an interim basis, authorized town counsel to hire Richard Sjoberg to do the background check, selectman Lorraine Brue said.

"I personally made three calls (about Paicos) and none of them were positive," Center said in an interview Tuesday.

She said she is also disturbed that selectman chairman Lynda Walsh, by her own public admission, did no first-hand research on Paicos.

"Why is that?" Center asked. "She's hiring a town manager to run Foxboro."

Center said she felt pressure within the search committee, chaired by Anthony LaChapelle, in favor of Paicos' 11th hour candidacy.

She said Nancy Bacher, who also serves on both the search committee and the personnel wage board, also voiced concerns with the way Paicos emerged at the top of the field. Bacher could not be reached for comment before deadline on Wednesday.

Selectman Larry Harrington, designated along with member James DeVellis to negotiate an employment contract with Paicos, said their goal is to have a draft contract for selectmen's review and approval for Tuesday's board meeting.

"After we sign the contract, Kevin will talk with his present board about a departure date and then we will know when we have a start date," Harrington said.

Center said it's "no secret" that she's been upset with the way the search was handled, notably after Paicos submitted his application -- with no accompanying letter of interest -- in July, after the committee had interviewed a number of other candidates.

She noted that the six-member search committee set no deadline for the submission of applications, that selectmen gave Paicos a half-hour longer interview than Scollins, and that selectmen asked no questions about how the candidates would relate to the most powerful business in town -- the Kraft Group.

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Search for new University of Kentucky president will draw plenty of input

Posted: 08 Sep 2010 10:44 PM PDT

The job qualifications: Make diverse groups happy, move the state toward a brighter future, cheer loudly each time the Wildcats win another Final Four.

The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees made an unconventional choice a decade ago when it chose Lee T. Todd Jr. as the school's 11th president.

What kind of person will it choose for No. 12?

Todd, who announced Wednesday that he will leave at the end of the academic year, was unusual because he was a former professor and businessman, but was not an academic who had moved up through the ranks of department chair, dean and provost.

The board will, like the last time, get advice from a search committee made up of some of its members, along with input from faculty, staff and students. And others.

Bill Lear, an attorney, developer and former state legislature, said the university president can be a key in commercializing ideas hatched at the school.

"From the standpoint of the community, the best thing about Lee Todd is he has reached out and ... he's tried to promote businesses that are spawned by the university's brain power," Lear said.

The next president "doesn't have to be another Lee Todd, but they don't need an ivory tower."

Alan Hawse, a UK engineering graduate and vice president of information technology at California-based Cypress Semiconductor who lives in Central Kentucky, beat the same drum. "I would like to see another executive come in," he said.

Hawse suggested that the search committee look for Kentuckians who have succeeded elsewhere and might be convinced to come home to finish their career in service to the state.

Another option would be to hire a young up-and-comer with those qualities, even if he or she eventually moves on to another university.

Either way, he said, "I think having a shining star is important."

Arne Bathke, a statistics professor who is involved in environmental issues, said Todd didn't push to make the school more sustainable.

A new president must, he said, because "that is something that will make the university very attractive in the future."

Judy "J.J." Jackson, UK's first vice president for institutional diversity, said she wants someone to continue "the vision (Todd) laid out and that I wrapped my heart and mind around."

Former Gov. Paul Patton, now president of Pikeville College and head of the Council on Postsecondary Education, said he doesn't think there will be a shortage of highly qualified candidates for the president's job, and that the transition to a new president should be smooth.

"President of the University of Kentucky is going to be a prime spot in higher education, so I think it will be a very actively sought-after position," he said. "I doubt that there will be much reason to skip a beat."

But Ernest J. Yanarella, a political scientist and former faculty trustee, said a new president will need time to figure out the university.

"It will mean that for the next two years the university will be in a kind of state of suspended animation awaiting the new plan, the new initiative."

Joe Peek, who replaced Yanarella on the board, said finding a successful president is going to require a major change in the way Kentucky views and funds its flagship university.

"If I'm going to take on a job, I'd like to think that I have at least a chance of being successful. ... The people of this state have to understand that at least they care about education and that the future is education," he said.

Billy Joe Miles, the interim board chairman, said the state's obsession with UK sports "will have to be put on the back burner" for a new president to succeed.

He also said finding the best person to replace Todd will be difficult because UK can't offer nearly as much money as the top schools.

"To be honest it's really going to be tough to recruit a president with the money we have," Miles said. "Everyone else in the top 20 is making multiples of what Lee Todd is making."

Bernards Township discussion to focus on library as next chapter in job search

Posted: 09 Sep 2010 05:03 AM PDT

BERNARDS TWP. – Ruth Lufkin, supervising reference librarian at the Bernards Township Library, will discuss using the library as a job search tool from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14, in the library's Program Room.

During "The Library: Your Job Search Research Center," Lufkin will introduce useful library resources and showcase tools that make career exploration and transition easier as well as materials of special interest to job seekers.

She will also describe ways to search for information on particular industries, pinpoint potential employers and find nuggets of company data.

Online resources that are available remotely to every library card holder in the state, as well as those specifically available at Bernards Township Library, will be highlighted.

Members of the Career Forum, Career Networking Group (CNG) and other support groups are especially invited to attend this free meeting.

The Career Forum meets from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Somerset Hills YMCA, 140 Mount Airy Road in Basking Ridge. The CNG meets on the first and third Thursday evenings of each month at the library, 32 S. Maple Ave. in Basking Ridge.

Both of these local support groups offer programs of interest to those looking for work or contemplating transition and opportunities to network with other members of the group.

Pre-registration for Lufkin's presentation is suggested but not required; those who register in advance using the Program Calendar at www.BernardsLibrary.org will receive an email reminder before the event.

For more information, call the library at (908) 204.3031, ext. 4, or email rlufkin@bernards.org.

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Search on again for a Moreno Valley city manager

Posted: 08 Sep 2010 11:49 PM PDT

10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, September 8, 2010

By LAURIE LUCAS
The Press-Enterprise

The Moreno Valley City Council agreed Tuesday night to restart its search for a city manager, and interim City Manager William Bopf said he is backing out as a contender or adviser.

In a closed session, every council member except Robin Hastings voted to resume the recruitment. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Bopf confirmed Wednesday that he no longer wants the job and will not be part of the search committee.

Moreno Valley scrapped its six-month hunt for a city manager after Bopf, 74, announced that he wanted to be considered for the job and would work for less money than the two top candidates he had helped screen.

The Aug. 24 vote to terminate the search frustrated two councilmen and several members of the council-appointed search committee, who questioned Bopf's motives, timing and ethics. Councilmen Richard Stewart and Jesse Molina wanted to continue the search and voted no.

Bopf said he didn't see it as a question of ethics but as a chance to save the city money, considering the $12 million deficit Moreno Valley faces next fiscal year.

He came out of retirement in November last year after the previous city manager resigned. Bopf agreed to work until a replacement was found.

Bopf wrote in an editorial published Sept. 8 that his Aug. 12 proposal to be considered for the permanent job didn't derail the city manager search. He didn't say what did.

The council reported Tuesday that it had suspended recruitment last month because two members had received search-related information from outside sources, according to Stewart. "Some of the ground rules were unclear," he said.

Councilman Jesse Molina said he doesn't buy that. He said he thinks colleagues voted to stop the search because they were afraid of change and wanted to keep Bopf, someone they knew and trusted and who wouldn't cut staff.

"They found out something about the top (recruited) candidate that was not to their liking," Molina said. Specifically, the frontrunner talked about streamlining departments to save money, he said.

The city paid almost $24,000 for a recruiter, who will start the process again for no additional cost, except expenses of no more than $7,500.

Stewart said the council budgeted a $330,000 annual salary for the new city manager. Bopf proposed a package for himself that was less than $300,000 a year, with a two-year contract and a six-month severance clause.

Stewart said council members would re-interview the top candidates and look at new prospects, although without the help of the search committee: Iddo Benzeevi, Jamil Dada, Carl Rowe, David Slawson and Oscar Valdepena.

"They've finished their mission. They reviewed the pool; they gave input to the council," Stewart said.

He said that council will discuss the search in closed session Oct. 5.

Reach Laurie Lucas at 951-368-9569 or llucas@PE.com

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Thursday, September 9, 2010