By Pepper Fisher

SEQUIM – At Monday night’s council meeting, Sequim Mayor William Armacost made a motion to begin an official search for a new City Manager. Armacost said he had spoken with other councilors and heard from constituents in support of the idea. He said he does not want to hire a professional search firm or do a nationwide search, instead suggesting they handle the search in-house and look locally for candidates.

“I feel that we should, as we have discussed, move forward in advertising for that position. As elected officials, we have constituents to answer to. And through the council, I’ve had a lot of feedback of desire to see what the field of opportunity is out there. And I think we need to look at the Washington city managers newsletter as well as the international city manager newsletter as well. And again, Council has communicated, and I’m in total agreement, of not putting the expense of a headhunter, to where we hire a firm to do that. I think we have an opportunity that we should discover what we have within our own city or the options we’re given.”

No one on the Council seconded the motion.

Charlie Bush was forced to resign his position in January, and Assistant City Manager Charisse Deschenes agreed to a 6-month contract to take over as Interim Manager in February.

Deschenes spoke up in response to Armacost’s motion.

“You know, I was just going to point out that there’s an existing contract that we would need to look at, that you have with me, set through six months. So I’m not sure how that plays out, but I think we should probably look into that a bit.”

City Attorney Kristina Nelson-Gross wanted to know what qualifications the council would be seeking in a candidate.

“I do not recall receiving any council direction on the qualifications. So I think that it would be helpful for staff to have that conversation with Council first, and have our Human Resources Manager Emily Stedick here as well, so she can also talk about procedures, how things are typically handled with employment applications, and things of that nature.”

We reached out to councilors for comment on the Mayor’s proposal. Councilor Rachel Anderson said she had not spoken to anyone on the Council about beginning a search, and added this.

“It seems like everybody already knows Charisse, and everybody already has this great working relationship. And it seems like with all of the people leaving Council and new people being appointed and elections around the corner, it feels like it would be really tumultuous to pick somebody new, because there’s so many people new to Council.”

Councilor Tom Ferrell, who was not in favor of removing Bush, also told us he hadn’t spoken with anyone about beginning a search and would not be in favor of doing so.

“It’s no secret that I am an extreme supporter of Charisse, and think we’re very fortunate that she has all the city experience. And by the way, my current experience with her, she’s proven herself to be really good.”

Councilor Keith Larkin responded to our email, saying he had no comment.

Council and staff agreed to continue the conversation at the next meeting on March 22.