A total of 96 candidates applied for three Columbus department head positions by Friday’s deadline, according to city Human Resources Officer Pat Mitchell.
The chief operation officer vacancy yielded 32 applicants, while 38 applied for chief financial officer and 26 applied for information-technology director.
Both Mitchell and Mayor Keith Gaskin said those applications still need to be vetted to see how many meet the minimum qualifications for each position. Gaskin told The Dispatch that, at first glance, some of the applications look promising.
“I’m just now beginning to review those applications, as far as qualifications,” Gaskin said. “Obviously, you’re always pleased to have a good number of applications to review for positions like this.”
The COO, who helps oversee city day-to-day operations, will fill the vacancy left by David Armstrong, who retired June 30, while the new CFO will replace Deliah Vaughn, who left her post in September for a job in West Point. Both of those roles are currently filled by interims — Mark Alexander Jr. as COO and Mike Bernsen as CFO.
The new IT director will replace Greg Drake, who resigned as a city employee but has been filling the role as a contractor since.
For COO, there is one internal candidate and six others from Mississippi. The rest applied from out-of-state, Mitchell said.
There are 20 in-state applicants for CFO, including four from Columbus. None are internal candidates. Among the 18 out-of-state candidates, Mitchell said most are from the South but some are from as far as California.
Eight of the IT director applicants are from Mississippi, including two Columbus residents and one from Caledonia, but none are current city employees. The remaining 18 applicants are from out-of-state.
“I’m very encouraged by the number of applicants,” Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones said. “It shows people want to work in Columbus.”
The council will likely appoint members to a committee on Tuesday to review applications and choose finalists, Jones said. That committee will most likely consist of Gaskin, Mitchell and some members of the council.
“I would like to see this become a permanent committee that helps with all hires,” Jones said. “I also wouldn’t be opposed to appointing someone from out in the community if that’s possible.”
Jones, who moved in October to establish the hiring committee, said he would like to see that committee choose two or three finalists for each position who would be interviewed in a public meeting before the full council.
Gaskin had initially hoped to redefine the COO and CFO positions, creating a higher-paid chief administrative officer position with accounting and budgeting expertise and converting the CFO slot to a financial director/clerk role. Councilmen rejected that effort and instead voted to advertise the positions as they were.
Still, he hopes to hire a COO with budgeting and accounting experience, and he is looking for the COO and CFO to have experience working in municipal government.
Jones agrees on both fronts.
“The COO needs to be well-versed in all elements of running a city, especially budgeting and accounting, because that will help that person and the CFO work better together,” he said.
Gaskin believes all three positions could be filled by year’s end, but he cautioned against hiring too hastily.
“These are key positions,” he said. “We don’t need to make rash decisions just to get a body in a seat.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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