Andy Howard, the county’s parks, and recreation director, Joey Meadors, the city’s public works director, and Will Riley, Clinton assistant city manager and human resources director, are the finalists for the vacant position of Clinton City Manager.
The announcement was made Monday night after the city council met in a closed session. Mayor Randy Randall said the City has followed recommendations of the SC Municipal Association, which narrowed a list of 69 applicants down to a top ten - 5 of these were to have been interviewed by the council. After 2 withdrew, that left the 3 finalists
Another meeting is set for Thursday evening, and it is expected to be in closed session.
Randall said when the finalists to be interviewed were narrowed to 5, these applicants were told that their names would become public. The new manager will replace Tom Brooks, who resigned to take a position in private business.
The announcement was made at the conclusion of Monday's regular council meeting. Following the closed session discussion, Assistant City Manager Carl Stevens reported that he had presented a March financials report, and gave a report on work he is doing with the Clinton Economic Development Corporation. Stevens said he has taken over bookkeeping for the group, because it was behind and in an effort to have a closer look at the finances. The agency also is updating the list of land donated by the City to the CEDC for future development projects and marketing.
Mayor Pro-tem Danny Cook reported that upon leaving the meeting, Council would receive a first draft of next fiscal year's budget -- Cook said it an unbalanced budget on purpose.
Stevens said that purpose is to show where the budget-development process is starting from, and how the budget is put together. Council agreed to have a budget workshop meeting on May 15. First reading of the FY25-26 City Budget is planned for June 2 with second and final reading planned for June 18. The goal is to have it in place by July 1.
The time after executive session was about 10 minutes -- prior to the closed session, the Council transacted business for about 45 minutes.
Update - Clinton City Council gave Mayor Randy Randall and city attorneys authorization to negotiate a contract with a finalist, with a salary in line with what was advertised for the position, at a called meeting Thursday evening. Council Member Anita Williams asked if that negotiation was successful, would the decision come back to council for a vote? Randall said yes, and he proposed a meeting for this Wednesday - the beginning in closed session to hear about the negotiations, and an open session to take the vote. That way, Randall said, the new city manager would be on-board on May 15, when council takes its first look at the proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Council has been told it is not a complicated budget, because City revenues have not increase significantly. Williams asked if the manager vote could not be taken on Thursday before the workshop, and Randall said he thought it was better this way -- making an announcement Wednesday evening, and having a budget first-look Thursday evening.
"It would be nice to have the manager be prepared to be a part of budget discussions," Mayor Pro-tem Danny Cook said.
The contract once signed by both parties is a public document.
The called meeting to authorize contract negotiations took about 6 minutes.
