Freeborn County officials expect to hire a new county administrator in early August, and have contracted with an executive search firm to handle the process.

Wednesday, April 04, 2001

Freeborn County officials expect to hire a new county administrator in early August, and have contracted with an executive search firm to handle the process.

The board moved Tuesday to hire the Brimeyer Group, an executive search consultant firm, to conduct a search, narrow the candidates, and assist in interviewing potential administrators.

Within the next three weeks, the Brimeyer Group will interview commissioners and department heads to develop a profile of desirable candidates, said president James Brimeyer.

The profile will be complete and advertising will begin in early May, Brimeyer said.

&uot;This process seems to take a long time … but it’s really critical because it’s important to determine a consensus,&uot; he said.

Brimeyer will have a pool of candidates meeting profile criteria and passing a background check for the commissioners’ review by their July 3 board meeting, he said. Commissioners will then select candidates they want to interview for the position at the end of July.

Because they are contracting for full services, Brimeyer guarantees the process will lead to satisfactory employment of a qualified administrator. If the candidate selected by the board fails, Brimeyer will refer back to the original candidate pool and recommend another hire.

To ensure the guarantee, commissioners should refer any candidates they are aware of to the Brimeyer Group for inclusion in the pool, he said.

The county and Brimeyer have the right to terminate the agreement, he said.

Under the contract, commissioners can interview as many candidates as they would like, or conduct two sets of interviews, Brimeyer said.

Brimeyer recommended commissioners set aside an entire day to interview candidates individually and then as a board.