Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 19, 1993 TAG: 9301190228
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
COUNCIL GETS HELP TO FIND SCHLANGER'S SUCCESSOR
They want to make sure they get the right person for the job.So Roanoke City Council members have decided to use consultants to help find a successor to Joel Schlanger, who was forced to resign last month as finance director.
They also have decided to continue having the finance director report directly to City Council instead of to the city manager.
Councilman James Harvey said he expects the city to receive dozens of applications, maybe even more, for the post, which has an attractive salary and benefits.
Schlanger's salary was $88,000, but the pay for his successor will depend on the experience and qualifications of the person selected.
"We need someone with experience to help us narrow down the applications to 10 or 15 or so. Then we can make the decision," Harvey said Monday.
Council will use a recruiting firm, a so-called "headhunter," to help find applicants, as well as screen the hopefuls.
Many businesses and local governments use similar companies to help find the best people for top-level executive jobs.
Council has set no timetable for choosing Schlanger's successor. But it could take several months, if history is a guide.
City Manager Bob Herbert used an executive-recruiting company to screen applicants for assistant city manager. The city received 210 applicants for the post, vacant since Earl Reynolds resigned to become Martinsville city manager last February.
Herbert will nominate a successor to Reynolds within the next month. The choice will be subject to council's confirmation.
Schlanger was forced to resign because he charged $1,788 worth of personal phone calls to the city.
But he had what council members have described as an impressive 16-year record in budget projections and forecasting revenues. They acknowledge this will put pressure on them to be careful in choosing a successor.
Acting Finance Director James Grisso, Schlanger's top assistant for 15 years, will apply for his former boss's job.
Grisso, 47, has worked for the city for 18 years, starting as assistant municipal auditor. Three years later, he moved to the Finance Department and became deputy finance director in 1978.
Despite the controversy over the phone calls and Schlanger's resignation, council members say the finance director will remain independent of the city manager - and report directly to council.
Most large cities in Virginia give all budgetary authority to the city manager, and require the finance director to report to the manager.
Roanoke and Charlottesville are the only cities where the finance director reports to council.
Some critics have suggested that the lack of day-to-day oversight of Schlanger contributed to the phone-bill problem. If the finance director had been under the city manager's supervision, they said the personal calls would have been caught earlier.
But council members said that is not necessarily so. They said the finance director should remain separate from the city manager to provide a checks-and-balance system for city finances.
Councilman Howard Musser said he would never agree to permit the city manager to supervise the finance director.
"It's not that I just want for council to oversee another office. It's that I think we need to keep these offices independent of each other," Musser said.