Henderson council to mull city manager pick over weekend

By Conor Shine

Thursday, July 9, 2015 | 6:25 p.m.

The Henderson City Council is taking the weekend to digest two days worth of presentations and interviews with six candidates vying to be the next city manager. It will make its pick Monday at a special city council meeting.

The council completed the formal portion of its interviews today, with the six candidates each spending about a half-hour answering questions from the board. The interviews came a day after candidates presented their plans for how they would spend the first 100 days in office and later met with residents at a city hall mixer.

The finalists are Orlando Sanchez, Las Vegas deputy city manager; Scott Adams, Las Vegas deputy city manager; Robert Murnane, Henderson director of public works, parks and recreation; Steven Goble, Henderson fire chief; Ronald Olson, city manager of Corpus Christi, Texas; and Steven Sarkozy, former city manager in Carlsbad, Calif., and Bellevue, Wash.

After several hours of interviews today, council members agreed they wanted time to review their notes and candidates resumes before making their final decision. The official pick will likely come at a special city council meeting scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

Until then, the five city council members won't be able to discuss the hiring with each other under the state's open meeting law, which requires executive hiring deliberations take place in a public meeting.

While City Councilman John Marz said today he was ready to whittle the list down to two or three finalists today, the majority of the board preferred to advance all six candidates for consideration. No further interviews with candidates will be conducted.

"We've had some really interesting discussions the last couple of days, and I would hate to make a quick decision on something this important," Marz said.

Mayor Andy Hafen said he was impressed with all six candidates.

"It's going to be difficult, they all have strengths," he said. "At this point I want to vet things over."

Each candidate interviewing today faced a similar set of questions covering topics like their management style, communication strategies and major accomplishments. Many of the questions dealt with how they would address the city's financial challenges, which include a multimillion-dollar annual deficit in its maintenance fund for roads, parks, sewers and other assets.

Hafen encouraged members of the public to contact city council members over the next several days to share their thoughts about the city manager prospects. Residents can call or email city council offices or use the Contact Henderson feature on the city's website, he said. City Hall is closed on Fridays.

Resumes and written versions of the candidates' 100-day plans can be found on the city's website. Videos from the council interviews will also be posted online.