After considering an offer from a rival firm, Kenyon’s City Council unanimously decided to entrust its search process to North Mankato-based South Central Service Cooperative, putting it on path to fill its currently vacant city administrator position within four to six months.
Though Minneapolis-based DDA Associates may have offered a tech-savvy approach complete with a few extra bells and whistles, Mayor Doug Henke said the two offers were similar enough that South Central’s significantly lower price easily won the day.
Councilors were pleased to get two strong offers, led by experienced officials who had previously served in city administrative positions and had a track record of finding quality staff for Minnesota communities with a smaller, more rural profile like Kenyon.
“They don’t do a whole lot of work in the larger metro areas — that was a selling point for both of them,” said Henke. “They are more geared toward our population and as a rural community, a farming community with some industry.”
SCSC’s administrative search services also come with a long list of local references, including Blooming Prairie, Waseca and Le Sueur County. Currently, it’s engaged in a search process to help Steele County find a new county engineer.
Led by former Fairmont City Administrator/Planning Director Mike Humpel, the SCCS team is expected to get right to work, meeting extensively with councilors and city staff to create an ideal job description and position profile for the next administrator.
Mayor Doug Henke offered praise for the work interim City Administrator Frank Boyles has done so far, saying that his experience has helped him to hit the ground running in addressing hiccups as they come along while bringing fresh ideas to City Hall. Boyles was the longtime Prior Lake city manage and was brought in to fill the gap left by the sudden departure of Mark Vahsling, who left April 1 with no public explanation.
However, Boyles’ role is that of an independent contractor who works significantly less than would be expected of a full-time city administrator. Furthermore, Boyles’ tenure is expected to wrap up within six months at most — and part of his mandate is to help the council find his successor.
SCSC promises to then advertise the position on select job placement sites ranging from the regional to the national, as well as on social media, with the goal of overcoming the challenges posed by a tight labor market by drawing in suitable candidates from far and wide.
Once a group of highly qualified candidates are identified, SCSC will engage in a vigorous vetting process, including leadership assessments and tests, complete reference checks and a criminal background check, with the goal of identifying five strong candidates.
SCSC will then arrange a public meet and greet with each of the candidates before the interview process formally begins. The plan is to interview four of the candidates, with the fifth as a potential backup should one or more of the top four candidates withdraw from the process.
Even once the council decides to hire a candidate, SCSC is promising to provide further support, including mentoring for the new Administrator. Should the new Administrator leave within two years, SCSC further promises to conduct a second search free of charge.
SCSC’s all-inclusive fee will come in at a flat fee of just $14,500, which will be billed at the conclusion of the search process. That bid came in far below the $23,500 made by DDA, leading the Council to gravitate towards the nonprofit agency.
One of nine Service Cooperatives serving local government entities, nonprofit organizations and schools across the state, South Central Service Cooperative is a state-founded but not-state funded co-op funded through membership dues and provision of services.
Notably, SCSC’s nine county service area does not include Goodhue County, which is instead covered under Rochester-based Southeast Service Cooperative. However, the search services and others performed by the firm regularly extend beyond its designated service area.
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