Marion hiring nears

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Applications for Marion city administrator closed last week, and 14 are being reviewed by League of Kansas Municipalities consultant John Deardoff.

After Deardoff reviews them, he will turn them over to council members April 7.

“The mayor will distribute them to the individual council members,” Deardoff said.

The league will do some checking and look online to see what can be gleaned about the applicants.

“I don’t do any reference calling at this stage,” Deardoff said.

Once the council narrows the applicant pool to three or four, Deardoff will do more extensive checks.

Mayor Mike Powers will coordinate interviews and Deardoff will sit in on them.

“After April 7, I would say the interviews could be done by the end of the month,” Deardoff said.

He said the city could have a new city administrator by the end of April, but it might depend on how much notice the administrator would need to give at his or her current job.

The city’s search for a police chief or police officer is not going as well. Interim city administrator Mark McAnarney said only two or three applications had come in.

“I assume we might get a city administrator hired first,” he said.

The city is advertising for both a chief and a patrol officer in the hope of finding one person. If a new chief is found, interim police chief Zach Hudlin will revert to a patrol officer. If a patrol officer is hired, Hudlin likely will remain in the interim chief role.